Something More
by PrincessAria13
Summary: Lucas is the popular jock who has all the girls falling for him but he is looking for something more and when he bumps into a cute girl with pretty brown eyes he thinks he might have found it.
1. Chapter 1

"You're staring again" Maya her best friend says

"huh" Riley answers

"You were staring at Lucas again"

"No I wasn't" she tries to deny it

Maya gives her a look

"Ok I was " she says defeated

"Here's an idea instead of just standing there like a lovesick puppy why don't you go over there and actually talk to him"

"No way! I cant just go up to him, he doesn't even know I exist:"

"because your always so quiet you never really say anything "

"I cant help it I'm not good when it comes to talking to guys, or anyone for that matter"

"well if you never try you'll never know "

Riley sighs

At that moment Riley's older brother Josh walks by

" Hey Riley, Hey Maya"

"Hey Josh" riley calls back

Maya just watches him as he keeps making his way toward lucas and zay

Riley turns to her "looks like I'm not the only lovesick puppy around here"

Maya blushes "shut up" she tries to hide her face in her locker

"You've had a crush on my brother forever why don't you just tell him already"

"Are you kidding he'll probably laugh in my face"

"josh isn't like that"

"forget it, he has a girlfriend anyway, Sandra or whatever"

so"Its Sophie" Riley tells her

'whatever" lets just get to class. They start walking to their first period class

Meanwhile across the hall with the guys

Josh walks up to Lucas and Zay

"Please dude help me out" says Zay practically begging

"Forget it I'm not doing it" says Lucas as he gets his books out of his locker

"Doing what?" josh asks

"going on a double date with Zay and his girlfriend" Lucas answers

"Come on dude Vanessa says that Missy is totally into you and plus shes totally HOT"

"I'm just not interested sorry"

"dude whats up with you how can you turn down a hot babe like this"

"Zay I want more from a girl besides a nice body, I want someone I can talk to someone who gets me"

"whatever dude it's your loss"

bell rings for 1st period

riley is on her way to her locker to get her books for her next class, while shes looking down so she doesn't see where she is going and she bumps into

someone and drops her books on the floor, she bends down to get them.

"oh my gosh I'm so sorry I wasn't looking where I was going are you all right" says a male voice

Riley looks up and realizes the person she bumped into was Lucas

" I'm fine " she says kind of quietly but lucas can still hear her. She begins to pick up her things that fell

Lucas immediately begins to help her

"thanks" say shes quietly

"no problem" he smiles sweetly at her and she swears her heart skipped a beat

"are you sure youre okay" he asks agiain

she simply nods her head and quickly begins to start walking to her locker

lucas is left staring at her till she turns a corner and disappears

who is that girl he wonders


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Later that day in Riley's room her and Maya are sitting at her bay window

"So you actually talked to him?" asked Maya

"Well not exactly, I just said I'm fine and that's pretty much it, then I walked off"

"Riles you've been obsessed with this guy for years and now you finally got your chance and you just walked off?"

"I freaked I didn't know what to say" she sighs "he probably thinks I'm a freak"

maya pats her back "aww sweetie it's ok"

"I just looked at his eyes and my brain just froze"

"well next time just take a breath and remember he's just a guy"

"like I'll ever get a chance" riley goes to lay on the bed with her face in her pillow"

maya sighs and just stares at her poor shy friend.

"hey listen wish I could stay but mom and shawn want me home for dinner"

"Okay bye" riley says with her face still in her pillow

Maya is on her way out the front door when she runs into Josh who is just getting home.

"oh hey Maya" he smiles

"Hey Josh" she gives him a small smile

"you headed home already"

"yea mom and shawn wants me home"

"ok..hey tell shawn Ill see him tomorrow, he's helping me with a photography project"

"ok bye" she walks out

Next Day at school

Lucas and Zay are at their lockers. Lucas looks around the hall and his eyes land on a familiar face. It was the girl he bumped into yesterday. He hadn't been able to get her out of his mind. He was very curious as to who she is and how he had never noticed her before.

"Hey do you who that girl is?' Lucas asks Zay

"Which girl?" his best friend asks

"The one over there" He nods his head the toward Riley

"No idea, I've seen her around school a couple times but I don't know her name or anything" zay answers

"I ran into her yesterday, I've never seen her before stares at her as he closes her locker. As she turns to walk her eyes meet Lucas. He gives her a smile Riley freaks and stops staring and walks off to her class.

Lucas just watches her go, Zay waves a hand in his face to get his attention

"hello anybody home"

"huh oh yea sorry"

they leave to their next class.

Riley is on her free period so she uses that chance to go get her lunch from her dad because they accidently took each others lunches. She goes to to her fathers classroom with the lunch bag in hand. She tries to open the door quietly so she doesn't draw too much attention to herself but she still has the whole class with their eyes on her.

"hey sweetie how can I help you"

she feels her cheeks turning red from her dad calling her sweetie she just points to the brown paper bag and he realizes what shes here for/

"oh yea let me get yours ints in my bag. Class just keep working"

riley stamds by the door with her head down waiting for her dad to give her her lunch.

As she waits she feels eyes on her so she looks up realizes the eyes belong to non other than Lucas Friar. They stare at each other for what feels like forever until she is brought back to reality by her fathers voice

"here you go sweetie" he hands her her lunch

"thanks" she says quietly again

she walks out the door and as Mr. Matthews begins addressing the class Lucas stares at the door that the myserious girl had just walked through.

So shes mr. Matthews daughter he thinks and he realizes that if shes his daughter she must be Josh's sister how had he not known josh had a sister. that meant josh could probably tell him the name of the girl who had occupied most of his thoughts


	3. Chapter 3

Later after football practice is over all the guys are in the locker room

Lucas and Josh are finishing getting dressed

"Hey Josh" says Lucas as he's sitting on the bench tieing his shoe.

"yea" says Josh as he is putting on his shirt

"this girl came into your dad's class and your dad called her sweetie, is she your sister or something?"

josh laughs "yea that's my sister Riley"

riley repeats her name in his head, nice name it suits her he thinks

"how come you never said anything about having a sister"

"I wasn't trying to hide it, it just never came up "

"but I've been to your house before I've never seen her before "

"she's just very shy she's usually in her room or at her friends house"

even though he's never really even talked to her he could tell right away

she was a very shy person.

"why so interested" asks Josh suspiciously

"no reason is just I bumped into her the other day and then I saw her today and I just didn't know who she was, I'd never seen her before"

"yea Riley keeps to herself a lot"

Lucas just nods and gets lost in his thoughts as his mind again goes to Riley.

Maya walks into her apartment when she sees her stepfather Shawn at the table with Josh who turns to give her a smile

"hey sweetie how was school" asks shawn

"fine" she replies as she makes her way to the fridge to get a bottle of water.

"you know everyday I ask you how was school and everyday you say the same thing" says her stepfather

"ok it was extremely fine" shawn just rolls his eyes as josh gives a small laugh

"so what are you guys working on?"

"I'm helping josh with his photography class"

"yea I have to come up with a topic and take pictures of that topic "

"what are you gonna take pictures of?" asks maya

"not sure yet"

shawns phone rings and he steps into another room to answer it leaving josh and maya alone

"so hows 9th grade treating you?" asks josh

"all right a lot harder than I thought."

"don't worry it only get worse" says josh

"gee thanks for the pep talk" says maya and josh just laughs

"just telling it like it is" just then his phone dings

josh picks it up and sighs

"something wrong?' asks maya curiously

"nothing just sophie being a drama queen" josh rolls his eyes

"really , trouble in paradise" maya teases

josh just laughs "she was upset because I couldn't give her a ride home from cheerleading practice like I usually do"

"bummer"

"yea but she's cooled down and we're okay"

"that's good" maya fakes a smiles

just then shawn comes back into the room

"hey sorry about that lets get back to work"

maya stands up "okay well ill be in my room"

"see ya later maya" josh gives her that smile that just makes her melt.

She leaves to her room and works on her homework

Next day at school

Riley is at her locker when Farkle walks up to her

"hey riley ready for chemistry?"

"as ready as I'll ever be " she laughs

Isadora smackle walks up to them

"hello farkle hello riley"

"hey smackle" says farkle

"so you guys want to go see that new superhero movie that's coming out Friday"

"sure I'll be there, you in riley"

"um, I'm not sure I have a lot of homework"

"oh come on riley its just a movie with your friends, it will be fun" farkle urges.

Riley sighs "okay I'll go"'

"cool, so I'll see you guys later" smackle walks off

"don't worry you'll have fun" farkle assures her

" yea I guess" riley smiles

meanwhile across the hall

lucas is at his locker and he sees riley talking to a guy, he had seen the guy before, he forgot his name, it was something weird like Farrlo or something, he was some science whiz from what he remembered.

Josh walks up to him

"sup dude"

lucas turns to him and hopes that josh hadn't caught him watching his sister like some weird stalker.

"hey bro how ya doin?'

"okay but sophie's is driving me crazy, she just went off on me because she found out my science partner is that girl jenny" josh rolls his eyes

lucas laughs "that sucks man, hey how about we have a guys night, we can go see that new superhero movie"

"sounds cool I need a night out with the guys"

riley and farkle walk by and riley and lucas eyes meet before she quicly looks down

"hey so who is that guy with riley?' asks Lucas tries to ask casually

"that's one of her friends, his names farkle"

"so that's not her boyfriend?" asks lucas

josh laughs "no way dude, they've been best friends since like the 1st grade.

Lucas for some reason was a little relieved to hear that.

Riley's dad had a late meeting and maya had to go with her mom to run errands so riley was left to wait for her brother to get out of football practice to take her home. She decided to wait in the libaray doing her hw till he was done. When he texted her to meet her by the car she started walking to the parking lot.

She got there before him so she just stood by the car waiting. 2 minutes later she sees her brother making his way over and he wasn't alone he seemed to be walking with another guy. It took her a second to register that the guy was Lucas. As they approached Lucas had his eyes on her.

"hey riles ready to go" says her brother and she just nods

"hey riley, is it?" says lucas with smile knowing the answer but just trying to make conversation with her

she just nods

"well its nice to meet you formaly" he lets out a small laugh

riley tries to think of something to say but all she can do is just smile and nod like an idiot.

Josh looks between them and tries to break up the awkwardness

"ok well we're giving lucas a ride home, his cars in the shop " he explains

"ok" says riley and then she starts making her way into the car without another word.

Josh turns to lucas

"don't take it too personally, she just needs time to get used to you" josh tries to explain

lucas just nods "no prob man, I get it" he reassures

they make their way into the car.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Maya finds herself in her room playing guitar she's so into playing she doesn't realize that someone had entered her room

"I didn't know you play guitar"

maya looks up and sees josh standing at her door

"what are you doing here?" maya asks

josh walks in and seats at her desk chair

"I was at my moms bakery and your mom was there with a bunch of boxes she had to bring home so I offered to help her"

"oh" says maya

"now back to what I said before, since when have you played?'

"a couple years now, I got it for my birthday and I just started messing around with it"

"so you've never had any lessons" he asks impressed

"nope not really"

"wow that's amazing"

maya shrugs like it's no big deal

"any other talents you hiding from me miss hart" josh teases

maya looks down and blushes

shawn pokes his head through the door

"oh hey josh I thought I heard you, listen I have some of my old stuff thought maybe we can look through them and you can get some ideas"

"sounds good" he gets up to leave with shawn and just about as he's about to leave he turns and looks at maya

"see ya around maya," he smile and leaves

"bye josh" she says mostly to herself

Riley is in her room studying by her bay window with Farkle

"So I hear the movie is gonna be awesome" Farkle says excited

"I'm not really that into superhero movies" says riley

"hey I had to sit through all those boring girly movies with you, you owe me"

"oh come on you know you love them" riley teases'

"maybe but I definatley have to say I will never forgive you for making me see those twilight movies"

"oh come on those movies were awesome" riley defends

"yea maybe the first time around but you made me watch each movies 10 times each"

riley just laughs and continues to look at her book studying

"so what's the deal with you and smackle" riley suddenly asks

"what do you mean?" farkle asks not understanding the question

"oh come on everyone can tell she so likes you"

"no she doesn't" he pauses "you think" farkle asks

riley just nods her head

"she is so into you, you should ask her out:"

"you think she'll say yes?"

"definitely" riley encourages him

"well what about you, any guys you interested in?"

"nope" riley answers avoiding eye contact

"come on I can tell when you are lying"

"there's nothing to tell farkle, lets get back to work" she turns back to the book on her lap and farkle just sighs and they continue to work. Rileys thoughts on lucas the whole time.

The next morning at the Matthews

"thanks man I really appreciate it, my car will be out soon" says lucas as josh lets him in the house

"it's cool man, anytime" josh reassures his friend

toponga is in the kithchen making toast for breakfast

"hey mom this my friend lucas" says josh

"hello lucas it's nice to meet you" Topanga smiles kindly

"it's nice to meet you too mam," lucas says politely

"aww such polite boy, you should take a lesson josh"

josh such rolls his eyes

"wow 10 seconds and my mom already likes you better than me"

lucas laughs

at that moment riley comes running in with only 1 shoe on

"mom, have you seen my other converse" riley says and then she notices lucas

"hey riley" lucas says brightky

"hi" riley says kindly

"I haven't seen it honey" Topanga

riley sighs and runs back into the room to keep looking. Lucas holds back a chuckle as she almost slips.

"lucas are you hungry? We have plenty of food" Topanga offers him some toast

"thank you mr.s matthews" he takes a toast

"okay well if we're going to make to school we need to leave now" says josh as he grabs his bag

"riley, if you want a ride hurry up" josh shouts to his sister

seconds later riley is coming with books in hand she loses her balance and drops one of them. Lucas quickly approaches

"here let me help" he takes some the books so she doesn't struggle

"thank you" she says

they make their way out of the Matthews home.

When they arrive at school

Josh goes to find Sophie and lucas is about to offer to help riley to her locker when maya comes up to them.

"hey riles" she says brightly then turns and her eyes kind of widen when she realizes who she is standing next to.

"hi I'm lucas" he says politely

"maya" she answers

"so you too hanging out now?" she asks looking staright at riley who tries to avoid eye contact

"I got a ride from josh" lucas explained and maya just nodded

lucas turns to riley, "uh do you want me to help you to your locker?"

riley shakes her head "no thank you" she says quietly she smiles and takes her books back from him as she starts walking away. Maya waves goodbye and follows her best friend.

"so whats up with you and lucas" asks maya as riley puts her books away In her locker.

"nothing he just helped me with my books" riley explained

"oh really, so you guys friends now?"

"no he is my brothers friend he probably thinks I'm a freak" riley sighs

"well try saying more than 2 words to him next time" maya reasons

"I wish it was that easy" riley shuts her locker as they make their way to their 1st class.

At football practice

Lucas and Zay are tossing the ball back and forth for warn up when the cheerleaders come out

"hey look, here comes missy" zay tells his best friend

"hey lucas" says missy as she approaches the guys she gives lucas a flirty look

"hey missy" lucas says without even looking at her

"so how ya been" she asks

"I'm okay how about you?" he asks to be polite

"okay these practices have me wiped" she sighs

"yea I know how ya feel" lucas answers as he continues to toss the ball

the cheerleading coach blows the whiste for the girls to join

"well I have to go I'll see you around" she says very flirty and she walks away.

"dude what is wrong with you, you have a hot girl in front of you and you don't do anything" says zay disaaproving of his best friend

"dude I told you I'm not interested in missy" lucas tells his friend

"come on man theres got to be one girl that floats your boat"

Lucas thoughts again go to riley. There was something about her that just made her so interesting to him, he wanted to break down those walls and actually get to know her and have a conversation with her.

"hello earth to lucas"

"huh"

"dude you spaced out on me again whats up?" his friend asks

"nothing man I'm fine"

the football coach blows his whistle to begin practice.


	5. Chapter 5

Riley is in her room doing homwwork and decides to go to the kitchen to get some water, after she closes the refridgerator she turns and gets startled when she realizes someone was sitting there on the couch

"hey" lucas smiles at her

"hi" riley says shyly kind of blushing

"uh I came to study with josh, he's on the phone with sophie right now" lucas points to the hall to josh's room

"oh ok" riley says

riley is about to just run off but decides to try and see if she can keep the conversation going

"uh, do you uh, want some water or something?' she asks nervously and lucas finds it adorable

he just smiles "yeah sure water would be great, thanks" he gets up to meet her in the kitchen

riley grabs another water from the refridgerator when she turns back her and lucas are standing a couple inches away from eachother

"here" she hands him the bottle and as he grabs it their hands touch and both of them feel something that they couldn't explain but they liked it.

"thanks" lucas says smiling at her

"no problem" she replies

he takes a sip and keeps his eyes on riley then he decides nows his chance to try to get to know her

"so you're in 9th grade right?' lucas asks

"yeah" says riley trying to speak a little louder

"so how are you liking high school so far?'

"it's okay, very different from middle school"

"yeah I felt the same way when I started" lucas chuckles

riley couldn't believe it, was she actually having a real conversation with lucas friar the guy she has had a crush on for years.

"so are you in any clubs or sports yet?" he asks her

she shakes her head "no, I don't really do that kind of stuff"

"why not?" asks lucas

"clubs and sports are just not for me" she shrugs

"what too cool for you?" lucas teases

riley just laughs. Just then josh comes back into the room

"hey man sorry about that, once you get sophie talking she just can't stop" josh explains

"it's cool man, riley here kept me company" he smiles as riley looks down and blushes.

"cool, well lets get back to work."

Riley starts to head towards her room

"bye riley, hope to talk to you soon"

she smiles and nods then walks to her room to keep studying

later that night

"I'm serious maya,I actually had a conversation with him" riley told her best friend excitedly over the phone

"wow, and you didn't faint or anything?" maya teases

"haha very funny" riley says sarcastically

maya laughs "I'm happy for you sweetie, see you talked to him and he didn't think you were some weirdo"

"I guess you're right, so are you still going to the movies with us on Friday?'

"yeah, who's driving?'

"not sure I'll ask my parents to see if one of them can take us"

"sounds good, well see you at school"

"night peaches" she hangs up

Thursday morning

Riley wakes up and gets ready for school and once she's ready she heads for the kitchen where her family is already seated plus an extra person. Lucas is sitting at the table next to josh.

"morning pumpkin" says mr. Matthews

"morning" says riley as she sits down in the only seat available which is next to lucas

"morning riley how are you" lucas asks smiling

"morning I'm good how about you?"

"good, love seeing an actual family breakfast, my parents are both busy and I don't have any siblings, so my breakfast consists of just me" says lucas

"well you are always welcomed here" Topanga reassures him

"I just may take you up on that" lucas chuckles

riley goes to grab the milk at the same time as lucas and their hands meet

"oh uh sorry, here you go" he hands her the milk

"no it's okay you first, you're the guest" riley smiles reassuringly as him

lucas smiles and he pours himself milk then hands it to riley.

"oh before I forget, riley can you babysit auggie on Friday, I have to work late and your father has a meeting" says her mother

"oh I can't I had planned to go to the movies with my friends I was actually gonna ask you guys for a ride" says riley

"well maybe he can go to Ava's house after school" Cory suggests to his wife

toponaga nods and agrees

lucas turns to riley

"so what movie you gonna go see ? asks lucas

"um that new superhero movie" she answers

"oh that's cool we're going to see that too" he says kind of excited

"well then josh can take you" mrs Matthews says

"excuse me how about asking josh?" says her brother

his mother gives him a look

"I'd be happy too" josh says defeated

Riley smiles "thank you brother" she teases josh

Riley, Lucas & Josh leave for school

Friday night arrives

Maya enters her best friends room

"hey you ready?" she asks her best friend

"yes I am" riley says as she puts her jacket on

"so where are farkle and smackle?" she asks

"their going to meet us there?"riley answers

"hey riley you guys ready?" she hears her brother shout

"lets go" riley loops her arm with her best friend as they head to the living room where her brother is waiting for them

"you guys ready?" he asks them

"yep, lets go" they head out the door and drive to the theater

at the theater they find lucas and zay waiting for josh.

'hey bro" says zay as josh and the girls approach them

josh fist bumps both his friends. Zay turns and sees the girl

"hey I thought this was a guys night out, no one said anything about girls"

"dude this my sister and her best friends their not hanging with us they just needed a ride." Josh explains

"well its nice to meet you lovely ladies" zay says flirtly

"not gonna happen" maya says and she starts walking off riley begins to follow but first shares a quick look with lucas who smiles at her.

"hey meet here after the movie," josh shouts out to them

riley turns to give her brother a nod and then continues to follow maya to find Farkle and Smackle.

Riley and her friends head inside and find seats. Maya and smackle leave to the bathroom before the movie starts leaving riley and farkle alone.

"so you asked her yet?" riley asks excitedly

"no not yet, I don't know how" farkle confesses

"just ask her you don't have to go all out" riley advises him

"I guess, you're right, I'm just afraid she'll say no"

riley puts her hand on his shoulder as a comfort

"I guarantee you she will not say no, I can tell by the way she looks at you, it's like you're the only one in the room" riley tells him

"really?" farkle asks her and she just nods

"thanks riley"

"anytime farkle"

Lucas, josh and zay walk into the theater and look for 3 seats together as their looking lucas spots riley and that guy she saw him before farkle he remembered his name was. She had her hand on his shoulder and gave him one of her adorable smiles. Lucas felt something in the pit of the stomach, he didn't like the way she was looking at him.

"lucas come on man" he hears zay and comes back to reality in time to follow his friends to their seats.

They find 3 seats that ended up being 3 rows behind riley and her friends, from time to time lucas found himself peeking glances at riley.

After the movie

Riley and her friends go to the spot where they were to meet josh

"hey so you guys want to go grab a bite to eat?" smackle askes them

riley and maya look ta each other and get an idea

"actually riley and I have to get going, but why don't you guys go" maya suggests

smackle turns to look at farkle waiting to see what he says.

Farkle turn to look at riley and maya who signal for him to say yes.

"okay lets go" he says smiling at smackle

farkle and smackle head off to smackles moms car

at that moment josh and his friends come up to riley and maya.

"hey you girls ready?"

"yea lets go"

josh says bye to his friends

lucas turns to the girls "night maya " and he smiles at riley "night riley"

"night lucas" she smiles they begin to make their way to josh's car.


	6. Chapter 6

Riley wakes up to a phone call from Farkle

"so how'd it go? Riley asked him

"I asked her out"

"and" riley asks excitedly

"she said YES!"

"YAY I'm so happy for you farkle

"thanks riley, well I gotta go im meeting smackle at the mall"

"okay well have fun"

they hang up

just then there is a knock at the door

"come in" she calls

josh enters the room

"hello beautiful sister of mine" josh gives her a smile

"what do you want?" riley asks him not falling for it

"what makes you think I need something? Can't I just come in and say good morning to my little sister who I love"

"what do you want?" riley repeats

josh sighs "ok fine, Sophie's birthday is coming up and I need you to help me pick a present"

"why me she's your girlfriend"

"come on riley you know im not good at shopping, especially for girls, please, ill owe you" her brother beg

riley rolls her eyes "fine, ill help you"

"thank you, get dresses" he leaves the room

riley sighs as she gets out of bed to get ready.

At the mall

"ok so what does Sophie like" riley asks her brother

"ok if I knew that I wouldn't need you" josh answers

"josh do you know anything about your girlfriend?"

"of course I do" josh answers defensively

"okay whats your favorite color?"

josh thinks "I don't know"

"favorite candy?"

"I don't know"

"favorite flower?"

"ok so I don'tknow the little things, no big deal" josh shrugs

"josh, knowing the little things makes the girl know you care about them because you care enough about them to remember them" riley explains

josh takes in what his little sister is saying

"I guess I never thought of it that way" josh admits

"maybe you just haven't met the right girl yet" riley smiles at her brother

"maybe" josh agrees

"how about a bracelet" riley suggests as they continue walking through the store

Few days later at school

Riley and maya are at their lockers riley looks over and sees lucas who is at his locker talking to his friends, his eyes meet riley's and he smiles and waves at her. She smiles back

"looks like things are going well between you too" maya smirks

"shut up " riley blushes and turns back to her locker

"have you talked to him lately?' maya asks

"nope" riley says sadly. She hadn't even seen lucas since the movie night.

"well why don't you go up and talk to him" maya suggests

"in front of everybody? Are you crazy?" riley asks wide eyed

maya rolls her eyes at her friend

"come on riley, he is obviously interested in you"

"how do you know that?" riley asks

"oh come on its obvious the way he looks at you" maya insists

riley would like to think that it is true and lucas was interested but she knew it was too good to be true. Guys like lucas don't fall for girls like her.

Farkle approaches them

"ladies"

"Farkle" both girls say

"so I hear you got a date" maya says smirking at her other best friend

"yes, that is true, Isadora and I are going out on Saturday." Farkle says kind of excited

both girls were both happy for their friend but they were also a bit jealous, they wished that they could be happy with the person they liked as well.

Across the hall

Josh walks up to his friends with an annoyed look

"so what sophie do now?" lucas asked knowingly

"she wants to go out on Saturday but I have to work on my portfolio for my photography project" josh tells his friends

"dude if she makes you so unhappy, why are you with her?" zay asks

josh sighs " we weren't always this way, we actually used to have fun but I feel like she's changed" josh explains to his friends

"maybe you're the one that's changed?" lucas suggests

"what do you mean?"josh asks

"maybe you've just matured and are looking for something different" lucas explains

josh took in what lucas was saying. He may have a point. Sure in the beginning it was fun but after a while of dating he realized he and sophie had nothing in common. Whenever he tried to talk to her about his photos or even football practices she never seemed interested, she always wanted to talk about herself or clothes or she would just complain about people and josh was starting to get annoyed by it , He needed more, someone who was actually interested in him and what he liked and who shared some of those interests.

"maybe" josh agrees


	7. Chapter 7

After School

Again riley was left to wait for her brother to finish practice she would have gone to the library but apparently they were having a private meeting there so that was off limits. She decided to just go sit out on the bleachers.

"hey josh, what's your sister doing here?" zay asks

Lucas looks up hearing zay mention riley and turns to look at the bleachers where he sees riley who is pulling out a book from her bag. he tries to hide his smile.

"giving her a ride home" josh explains

coach blows the whistle for practice to begin

the guys begin to head over but not without lucas taking one last glance at riley who now had her head down and was reading.

Practice went smoothly except for one or two passes lucas might have missed because he couldn't focus knowing riley was there.

"dude, you okay?" zay asks after coach lets them go

"yea, im fine"

"you missed 2 passes" josh tells him

"I just got distracted but im fine I promise" he tells his friends.

Just then sophie walks up to them

"hey joshy" josh cringes at the nickname, he hates it.

Both lucas and zay hold back laughs and decide to leave and give the couple some privacy.

"whats up sophie" josh asks kind of not in the mood for sophie and her tantrums.

"aren't you going to take me home?" sophie asks

"I cant I m taking riley home and then I have to work on..."

"your portfolio...I know I know that's all you ever talk about" sophie interrupts impatiently

"well excuse me for wanting to include you in my interests"

"come on josh you never have any time for me all you seem to care about is that stupid portfolio" sophie whines

"sophie I really don't have time for another one of your tantrums"

"fine, have fun with your little camera" sophie says rudly and walks away

josh sighs

meanwhile lucas left zay with Vanessa and heads over to riley

"hey" he says as he approaches

"hi" riley says in her sweet voice that Lucas just finds adorable

Lucas takes a seat next to her and both sat there not saying a word until riley finally decided to break the silence.

"uh you were great out there" riley blushes

lucas smiles "Thanks for trying to be polite but i was kind of off today. I guess I was a little distracted " he says awkwardly.

"uh really you have something on your mind?" riley asks

"nothing important" lucas tries to avoid the topic and changes the subject

"so uh did you like the movie?"

"it was good for a superhero movie" riley tries to joke

" let me guess you're one of those sappy love stories" he teases

"hey they're not sappy?" riley defends

lucas laughs

there is another silence again and lucas decides to ask her something that had been on his mind

"so uh that guy that was with you" he begins

"Farkle" riley answers

"yea is he uh your boyfriend?" lucas asked awkwardly. he remembered what josh said but he still felt the need to hear it from riley

"what?" riley asks shocked

"if I'm overstepping my boundaries or making you uncomfortable I'm sorry you don't have to answer I was just...curious I guess" lucas says

"no its fine..uh no farkle is my friend, one of my best friends actually"

"oh ok" lucas feels a little relieved

riley begins to laugh and lucas looks at her funny

"what's so funny?" he asks

"I cant believe you thought me and farke were dating"

"well you cant blame me, you guys seemed so...close" lucas says remembering seeing them at the movies and her hand on his shoulder and he feels his hands clench into fists and he tries to relax them.

"yea I mean we've been best friends forever" riely says

lucas nods

"so you guys never dated?" he asks curiously

"no, plus he just started dating someone" riley tells him .

just then josh walks over to them

"hey riles, you ready?" he asks

"yea" she gets her stuff together

josh looks over to his friend "you need a ride man?"

"no thanks my cars finally out of the shop, but thanks for putting up with me I totally owe you"

"don't mention it man well ill see you later lets go riley"

riley turns to lucas "bye "

lucas smiles "bye"

josh and riley leave

Later that night in rileys room she is on the phone with maya

"oh my gosh he was jealous!"

"no he wasn't, he was curious" riley tries to rationalize

"and why was he curious? Because he was jealous which just proves my point lucas likes you" maya says

"no he doesn't"

"ok fine don't believe me"

riley tries to change the subject

"so what about you?"

"what about me?" maya asks

"any closer to finally telling josh you like him"

maya scoffs "yea that's not going to happen"

"what if i told you he's not happy with sophie" riley asks

"did he say that?" maya asks curiously

"well not in so many words, but i can tell. they have nothing in common"

Maya took in what she was saying. was it possible that there was still hope for her or was she just setting herself up for disappointment.

Later that night

Riley is in the living room watching tv when Josh comes through the door and sits down with a sigh next to his sister.

"hey what's wrong?" riley asks her brother

"I broke up with Sophie" he answers

"What?, What happened?" she asks

josh shrugs "it wasn't working out"

riley looks sympathetically at her brother " I'd be lying if I said I liked sophie but I know you did. Im sorry josh"

"im not that sad actually" josh tells her

"you're not?" riley asks

"no, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders" he says

"really?" his sister asks

"I mean you were right I didnt even know her, we had nothing in common. I need more. someone I can talk to and share things with. I just want more" Josh tells his sister

riley scoots closer to her brother and lays her head on his shoulder

"well I'm sure there is a girl out there for you"

"you think I'll find her one day?" her brother asks

"I'm sure of it" his sister assures

"thanks riles"


	8. Chapter 8

Riley decides to stop by her moms shop to grab some coffee. She sits at an empty booth and orders a coffee and a muffin as she waits she is playing on her phone when she hears a familiar voice.

"funny bumping into you here"

she looks up to see lucas smiling at her

"hey" she replies

they stare at eachother with neither of them saying a word unill lucas decides to break the silence.

"so what brings you here" he asks

"um coffee" she points to the picture of the coffee on the door.

"right" he answers feeling dumb for asking, of course she would be at a coffee shop for coffee. Wait to go Lucas, he tells himself.

Riley starts to get nervous again so she starts to look down and play with her hands.

"mind if I join you?" he asks hoping he wasn't pushing it and making her uncomfortable.

"uh yea sure" riley tries to remain calm but inside shes freaking out

lucas smiles brightly "thanks" he sits across from her.

The waitress comes and brings riley's order and lucas orders a coffee for himself.

Maya is sitting on her couch drawing on her sketch pad when there is a knock at the door. She puts her sketchbook on the coffee table and goes to answer it. Josh is standing there with a big envelope.

"hey" she says surprised to see him

"hey is shawn here I wanted to show him some of the pictures I took" he says as he is walking ino the apartment

"he's not home he and my mom went out " maya tells the older boy

"oh okay" josh says about to leave

maya stops him "but they should be back soon, you can wait for him if you want" she offers

josh smiles "thanks maya" he sits down on the couch

Back at the café

Riley laughs "you did not"

"no I'm not we really did egg the principal's house" lucas tells her also laughing

"wow and he never knew it was you" riley asked

"nope"

They both continue to laugh for a bit till they are sitting there silent

"I really like talking to you riley" lucas confesses

"me too" riley blushes and looks down

The laughter has died down and now they are just sitting there in silence

"riley?" lucas suddenly asks

"yea?"

"I..."

"Lucas!"

They both turn to see Missy approaching them and stands right next to where Lucas is sitting

"Hi Missy" Lucas says awkwardly

"Funny bumping into you here" She says putting an arm on his shoulder

"Yea i guess"

Missy finally turns to acknowledge Riley

"Hello, and you are?" she asks with the most fake smile you have ever seen

"Uh..im..." Riley stutters her shyness kicking in

"This is Riley" Lucas answers for her

"So I hear Zay's having a party on Friday, you'll be there right?" Missy changes the subject

"I guess yea" Lucas says

"Cool well ill see you there, bye lucas" she gives him a flirty smile "oh bye Miley" she says to riley before leaving

Lucas turns to Riley "Sorry about her"

Riley tries to smile "it's okay, well i better get going" she stands up to leave

"Oh, ok" Lucas repies kind of disappointed

Riley begins to leave before Lucas calls her back. Riley Turns to look at him

"Um are you going to Zay's party?" he asks

"I wasn't invited" she points out

"Well i'm inviting you, you can even bring your friends" Lucas offers

"I'm not sure"

"think about it" Lucas insists

Riley nods and turns and leaves the cafe.

Lucas watches her leave with a sigh

Riley wanted to get as far away from the cafe as she could.

She knew better than to get her hopes up, . Seeing them together made her realize that they looked perfect for each other and her and Lucas just wouldn't be a good match. Guys like Lucas don't fall for girls like her, they go for girls like Missy, tall, gorgeous, and popular.

Her and Lucas were just in 2 different worlds

"So how has the project been coming along?"maya asks

"good, I decided to do mine on the beauty of new York I been taking pictures of different parts of the city" josh explains

"that sounds pretty cool, I'm sure it will be great"

"thanks:" josh smiles at her

just then they hear mayas phone ring from her room

"excuse me ill be right back"

she gets up to go answer the phone. While she is gone josh looks at the coffee table and sees a notebook. Curiosity takes the best of him and he grabs it and looks through it.

Maya comes back to the living room

"that was shawn, he and my mom should here any minute now" maya tells him

"did you do these?" josh asks her

maya realizes what josh was looking at and grabs it quckly.

"yea that's nothing " maya tells him avoiding josh's eyes

"maya that is not nothing, those sketches are amazing" josh tells her

"it's no big deal, just something I do on my free time" maya shrugs

"no big deal? Maya you have some serious talent" josh insists

"they're just sketches josh"

"they're not just sketches, its art, you're an artist maya" josh insists

maya blushes at the compliment "thanks josh"

they continue to just stare at each other until they hear the door open

"hey josh, sorry I kept you waiting"

josh looks away from maya and looks at shawn "no problem"

"well lets take a look at what you got " shawn sits to look at the pictures.

Maya decides now is a good time to excuse herself

"ill be in my room" she begins to walk to her room she turns to take one last look and her eyes meet josh's eyes and she quickly turns to her room.


	9. Chapter 9

Riley is in her room studying when Maya climbs through her window

"Hi Sweetie" she greets

"Peaches" Riley acknowledges her best friend without taking her eyes off her books.

"So is it my imagination or did I see Lucas' truck parked outside

"I guess, he must be here studying with Josh or something" she dismisses it like it's no big deal

Truth was she knew he was here. She had been avoiding him ever since that day in the cafe. When she heard he was coming over she decided to hide in her room until he left.

"So what you're going to avoid him now. Is this about that whole Missy thing you told me about the other day? I think you're overreacting Riles"

"Maya we're just too different " Riley says sadly

"Riles you're being ridiculous, it's obvious he likes you"

"He's just being nice cause i'm Josh's sister"

Maya rolls her eyes "Oh come on I've seen the way he looks at you. He likes you" Maya insists

"So did you hear Josh broke up with Sophie" Riley says to change the subject

"No, don't try to cha...wait what?" Maya asks shocked

Riley laughs

Maya rolls her eyes "So they really broke up? when?'

"The other night he came home and said he dumped her"

"Wow" was wall Maya could say

"So you gonna go for it?" Riley asks

"Are you going to go for it with Lucas?" Maya fires back

"Touche"

Toponga comes through the door

"Hey girls, Riley please set the table" her mother orders and leaves the room

Riley turns to Maya "You staying for dinner?"

"Can't I just stopped by to say hi, I gotta get home "

Maya leaves through the window

Riley sighs as she begins to walk to the kitchen

At the table

"Okay that's enough studying for me, my eyes are beginning to burn" Josh starts rubbing his eyes as Lucas chuckles at his friends

"Guys take your stuff off the table so Riley can set the table for dinner"

Josh and Lucas do as they are told

"So how you doing with the whole break up?"Lucas ask as they finish up clearing the table

"Pretty good, it's like you said We just grew apart"

"I'm sure you'll find someone new" Lucas pats his friend on the back

"Thanks, So what about you? any girl in your life?"

"Uh no,no girl" Lucas answers

"Well maybe someday we'll both find someone and then we could double date" Josh jokes

Lucas laughs a Little "yea maybe someday"

At that moment Riley comes out and begins to set the table

"Hey" Lucas says to try and get her attention. He hadn't seen her since he whole cafe thing with Missy and he hoped they were okay.

Riley looks up "Hey" she says quietly and resumes setting the table

"So you still going to Zay's party?" Josh asks

"Yeah I'll be there" Lucas then turns to Riley "So have you decided if you're going to come Riley?"

Josh turns to his sister "You're invited?" he asks

"I invited her" Lucas pipes up

"Uh I'm not sure if I'm going"

"You can bring your friend Maya if you want" Lucas offers

"I'll think about" Riley promises as she returns to her room

"So you invited my sister?" Josh asks

"Yea I ran into her the other day at the cafe and I invited her" Lucas shrugs

"Is there something going on between you and my sister?" Josh asks suspiciously

"Of course not"

"Dude" Josh gives him a look

"I don't even know her that well, I'm just trying to be nice" Lucas says

"Whatever you say dude" Josh says

Lucas rolls his eyes "I should get going before it gets late" Lucas gets up and leaves the apartment

"He so likes her" Josh chuckles to himself

Next Day at School

"We should totally go!" Maya says as her and Riley make their way to their lockers

"You're kidding right? Us crash a Junior party?"

"It's not crashing, we were invited" Maya points out

"I know but still"

"Come on Riles, it will be fun" Maya insists

"I'n not very much of a party person"

"Come on Riles Live a little"

"Hey Riley"

The girls look over to see Lucas walking over to them

"Hi" Riley greets him

"Maya" he acknowledges the blonde

"Hello Lucas"

"So have you guys decided if you were coming saturday?" Lucas asks

"I was just trying to convince her" Maya says

Just then Zay walks up to his best friend

"Hey Luke, Ladies" he greets

"Hey Zay, We were just trying to convince Riley here to come to your party"

"It's gonna be awesome" Zay tells them

Riley feels outnumbered "Fine i'll go"

Lucas smiles "Good"

The bell rings

"Well I guess I'll see you around" Lucas smiles at Riley before he and Zay head off to class

"Yay" Maya claps once they're alone and Riley just rolls her eyes at her best friend.

Lucas and Zay were walking down the hall

"So you invited Josh's sister'? " Zay teases

"Yeah so what?" Lucas asks

"Since when are you 2 so chummy?" Zay asks

Lucas shrugs "I don't know we've just been talking, she's nice" he says with a small smile

Zay's eyes widen "Oh my gosh you like her!"

"What, of course not" Lucas dismisses him

"Oh my gosh you totally like her, does Josh know?" Zay asks

"Theres nothing to know cause I don't like her like that." Lucas says

"Sure man whatever you say"

The friends continue to walk to class in silence. Lucas turns to see if Riley was still where she had been but she had left.

The night of the party Riley is in her room getting ready when Josh comes in

"I can't believe you are actually coming to a high school party" Josh says amazed

"Why's it so hard to believe?" Riley asks her brother staring at him through the mirror as she is finishing her hair.

"It's just that you don't seem like the party type" Josh shrugs

"Well I'm in High School now" Riley explains

"And it has nothing to do with the fact that Lucas is the one who invited you?" Josh asks

Riley tries to play it cool "Of course not"

"So what is going on between you and Lucas?"Josh asks

"Nothing we just talk sometimes, that's all"

Josh wasn't buying it but he decided to drop the subject cause he knew he wasn't going to get anything out of her.

"So you want a ride?" Josh asks

"Sure thanks, we just have to wait for Maya"

Josh nods and then there is a silence in the room until Josh breaks it

"So speaking of Maya, how come you never told me she was an artist?" he asks

Riley shrugs "It's no big secret, she's been drawing since we were kids"

"I never knew that" Josh says

"Maybe, you've just never really payed attention" Riley says

"Maybe" Josh says

Josh looks up when he hears a noise coming from the window and he sees Maya climbing in, Josh eyes widen when he sees Maya dressed in a very nice & short dress .

"Hey" Maya says with a small smile

"Uh Hey you look...Nice" Josh says

"Thanks" Maya says blushing

Riley simply stares at her brother and best friend and smiles at how cute their awkwardness was.

"Well uh I'll be outside waiting" Josh leaves the room and once he leaves Riley turns to Maya

"Well you totally made an impression on him" Riley says

"What are you talking about?" Maya says as she sits on the bed

"Didn't you see the way he looked at you" Riley says

"What do you mean?" Maya asks trying to hide her smile

"He was so totally drooling over you?"

"He was not, he's not into me like that" Maya says ad Riley could tell she was blushing

"Now who's in denial?" Riley teases

Maya simply rolls her eyes

"You should tell him you like him" Riley tells her

"You should tell Lucas" Maya fires back

"That's different"

Maya rolls her eyes

"Tell you what, I'll tell Josh after you tell Lucas" Maya says and then she gets up and leaves the room

Riley sighs and then turns back to the mirror.


	10. Chapter 10

Riley wasn't sure what to expect when they got there. She had never been to these parties but she would always hear her brother talking about them. Pretty much like your typical high school parties, usually filled with a bunch of people and very loud music. As soon as they arrived Riley could already hear the music even before they stepped out of the car.

Josh was pulled away from them very quickly by some of the other guys from the team so it was pretty much Riley and Maya together trying not to bump into anyone because it was so crowded.

"This is insane" Riley shouted over the music

"I know Ive never seen anything like this " Maya shouts back.

"Maya I don't know about this, this isn't really my scene" Riley tells her

"Come on Riley just relax, come on lets dance"

Maya drags her over to the dance floor and at first Riley feels awkward but eventually she gets comfortable and starts to have fun. They dance for a while and then they begin to get thirsty.

"Let's go grab a drink" Maya says as she drags her to find the kitchen they eventually arrive and grab some sodas.

"So are you having fun?" Maya asks

"I'll admit it's not as bad as I thought" Riley tells her

"And it's about to get better" Maya smirks as she sees someone coming up behind Riley

"What do you...?" Riley begins to ask before she is interrupted by a familiar voice

"Hey"

Riley turns sees Lucas in font of her with a bright smile

"Hey" she replies back

"I'm gonna go find the bathroom" Maya says and leaves before Riley can say anything. Riley tries to give her a look pleading not to leave her alone but she's already gone. Now she's left alone with Lucas. Her nerves begin to take over and she didn't know what to say.

"So are you having fun?" Lucas asks

Riley nods "yeah, it's a great party"

"I haven't seen you , I ran into Josh and he said you were here but I couldn't find you" Lucas tells her

"Yeah it's a bit crowded here" Riley says

Lucas nods agreeing "Yeah these parties can get pretty crazy" he says looking around at al the teenagers.

Riley nods "I feel like I'm in some cliche high school party"

Lucas laughs "Is that where all your party experience comes from, Teen Movies?"

Riley blushes "Maybe". Lucas chuckles

"Hey Lucas!"

They turn to see one of the football players calling him over

"I guess they need me" Lucas replies not really wanting to leave

"Yeah I guess they do" Riley says also sad to see him go

They call him again and he begins to walk over to them leaving Riley by herself.

Maya is walking around watching all the teens dance when she feels a figure approach her.

"So are you enjoying the party?" Josh asks

"Yeah I am" Maya comments smiling at him

"Where's my sister?" Josh asks

"I left her and Lucas alone to talk" she tells him

"So what's going on with them?" Josh asks curiously

Maya shrugs "Not sure" she says not about to rat out her best friend

Josh gives her a look "Your bad at lying Maya"

"So you having fun?" Maya asks changing the subject

Josh chuckles "Yeah it's okay, the music is not my taste though"

Maya chuckles "Yeah very different from the heavy metal music you listen to"

"Yeah" Josh answers and realizes something "How did you know I like Heavy metal"

"I practically live at your house and I can hear AcDC coming from your room, I even remember all the rock posters and t shirts you got for your birthday." Maya chuckles

Josh laughs "What can I say, I like the classics"

"Hey I'm not judging, I myself like Guns & Roses" Maya comments

"Really? Thats one of my favorite bands I didn't even know you like that kind of stuff"

Maya shrugs "You never asked"

Josh smiles at the blonde

They just stand their staring at each other before they are interrupted

"Hello Josh"

They both turn to see Sophie, who does not look too happy right now

"What do you want, Sophie?" Josh asks annoyed

"Is she why you wanted to break up?" she asks giving Maya very dirty look. Maya never felt so uncomfortable in all her life.

"Sophie please go away"Josh says firmly

Sophie ignores Josh and keeps glaring at Maya "I didn't know you liked them young"

"Sophie stop" Josh insists

"So have you slept with her too?" she asks. Maya's eyes widen

"That's enough," Josh raises his voice more firmly "Nothing is going on between me and Maya, or anyone for that matter I broke up with you because we were;t working out. We were over a long time ago and it was tine for both of us to move on."

"You are going to regret this one day. You'll be begging for me to take you back"

"I really doubt that" Josh replies

Sophie glares at Josh and then storms off. Maya is just standing there still in shock by the scene that just happened.

Josh turns to Maya "I am so sorry, about that"

"It's okay, I should go find Riley" Maya says avoiding looking Josh in the eyes. She walks off to go find her best friend.

Josh sighs as he watches Maya walk away

Riley decided she needed some air so she decided to go outside. She steps out to the back and finds a swing on the porch and sits down and begins to swing herself slowly.

"Bored already?"

Riley turns to see Lucas come outside and goes to sit next to her on the swing

"No, I just needed some air" she explains

Lucas nods and they sit there in silence for a few moments. Lucas begins to swing them faster and Riley laughs making Lucas smile.

"I like your laugh" Lucas says

Riley blushes and looks down

"I'm sorry that just came out" he admits

"No it's okay..it was sweet" Riley smiles

Lucas smiles back and they continue to swing in silence

"What kind of music do you like?" Lucas asks

"That's a random question" Riley chuckles

"Well I mean we talk sometimes but I don't really know you that well, I 'd like to get to know you" Lucas admits

Riley tries to hide her smile "Really?" she asks

Lucas nods

Riley thinks for a moment "I guess my music varies I like pop and rock but I also like country"

"I like country too" Lucas says smiling at the fact they have something in common.

They continue to talk and get to know each other and learn a lot about each other such as Riley's favorite color is purple and she loves books and is bad at sports but was actually good at gymnastics because her mom made her take it as a kid and Lucas' favorite color is blue and he loves to work on cars which he learned from his uncle back when he lived in Texas.

They also learned that they had lots of things i n common such as they both prefer dogs over cats, and they both love Hawaiian pizza. Their favorite book was catcher in the rye.

Lucas had never met someone who shared a lot of the same interest as him and who he really connected with. He loved talking to Riley and getting her out of her comfort zone. Once she let loose he found she was a very funny girl with a great heart.

He had tried to convince himself that what he wanted from Riley was simply a friendship but the more time he spent with her the more he realized that he couldn't deny what he felt for her was something more, something he had never felt before. The problem was he wasn't sure how Riley felt, he didn't want to freak her out and chase her away and then there was Josh to think about, how would he feel about his friend and his sister?

He had to move slowly

"Lucas"

Lucas was brought back from his thought by Riley

"you okay?" Riley asks

"Yeah, Im sorry I just was thinking of something" Lucas says

"Oh really? what?" she asks

"Nothing important" Lucas says avoiding her eyes

Riley nods not wanting to push him. All of a sudden Maya comes out

"There you are, Ive been looking all over for you" she tells her best friend

"Sorry we lost track of time talking" Lucas explains

All of a sudden Josh comes out as well and Riley feels the atmosphere between her brother and best friend was awkward "Hey you guys ready to go?"

Riley nods and stands up and Lucas follows and stands up as well

"Bye" Riley says smiling at Lucas

"Bye" Lucas repeats

Maya rolls her eyes at the 2 and grabs Riley wanting to just get out of there already.

Lucas watches them leave.


	11. Chapter 11

Riley knew something was going on

The whole car ride home had been very silent and both her brother and best friend seemed very tense.

As soon as they got home the girls rushed into Riley's room and as soon as Riley shut the door she started asking questions

"Okay what's going on?" Riley demands

"What do you mean?" Maya asks playing clueless

Riley gives her a look "Come on peaches you and Josh have been acting werd since we left the party"

Maya sighs and tells her what happened with Josh and Sophie

"Oh my gosh" is all Riley can say

"I know" Maya says

"Do you think they actually did it?" Riley asks more to herself and then shakes her head "No I don't even wanna know the answer to that" she cringes

Maya stays silent not wanting to know the answer either

"So you okay?" Riley asks her best friend

Maya nods "Yeah I'm fine" she then decides to change the subject

"So what about you?" Maya asks with a grin

"What about me?" Riley asks trying to avoid looking at the blonde

"You know what I mean, you and Lucas seemed pretty cozy" she teased

"We were just talking"

"Outside, alone"

Riley blushes and looks away " Nothing happened"

"But you wished something did" Maya asks

"We should go to bed" Riley changes the subject and Maya decides not to push her any further.

The girls begin to get ready for bed Riley falls asleep quickly but Maya can't seem to fall asleep, she just lays there staring at the ceiling finally she decides to get up and get a glass of water.

She exits the room quietly so she does not wake Riley, Once she gets to the kitchen she finds someone already there at the table

"Hey" Josh says as he sees the blonde enter the kitchen

"Hey, can't sleep either?" she asks

"Nope" he answers and looks down at his glass of water, Maya grabs her own glass and isn't sure if she should stay or go back to the room. She decides to just head back to the room but then Josh stops her

"I'm really sorry about Sophie"

"It's fine" Is all Maya can say

"No it's not she was way out of line, and she shouldn't have done that to you"

Maya tried to give him a reassuring smile "It's okay, I'm fine really"

They stay silent for a bit till Josh decides to break the silence

"So uh besides that awkward moment did you have a good night" he asks trying to lighten the mood

Maya chuckles "Yeah it was alright, nothing to compare it to"

"Well I'm sure this was the first of many parties" Josh assures

"Yeah I guess"

They stay seated across from each other

"So uh what happened with you and Sophie?" Maya asked curiously

Josh shrugs "I don't know we just drifted apart. We had nothing in common"

"Well I could have told you that" Maya teases "I mean she didn't even know who Moorhead was"

"I know right" Josh laughs

"And when she got you that ugly red shirt"

Josh winces "Ugh I hated that shirt"

"And yet you still wore it" she points

"Only cause she guilt me into it"

"She thought it went with your skin tone" she mimics in a very girly voice making Josh laugh

"I still have no idea what that means" he says

They continue laughing . The laughs die down and they are left just staring at each other

"So how's your portfolio going?" Maya finally asks

"It's good I finally finished"

"Really thats cool, I would like to see it sometime"

"Really?" he smiles. None of his friends were all that interested in what he did so it was nice to talk to someone who was actually interested.

"Yeah, of course"

"Well if I show you my photos you show me more of your drawings"

"Really?"Maya says and Josh nods

"Okay deal" Maya smiles "Well, it's late I should get to bed"

Josh looks at the clock and sees it is 2 in the morning. "Yeah It's pretty late"

"Well I guess I'll see you in the morning" Maya says as she gets up and begins to head back to Riley's room. Josh watches her leave

"Sweet dreams Maya" he says


	12. Chapter 12

Maya was in Biology class, one of her least favorite classes not just cause it was her least favorite subjects but because it was one of her only classes without Riley.

"Okay class" Mr. Adams her Bio teacher calked "Today we will begin work on our research projects, I will pair you up and you will come up with and run your own experiment"

He begins calling out pairs when finally he reaches Maya

"Okay Miss Hart you will be with Mr. Peters" he directs her to a dark haired guy in the back. he gave Maya a small wave of acknowledgment.

"Okay why don't we meet with our partners and start discussing ideas" Mr. Adams tells the class

Maya's partner walks up to sit in the seat next to Maya

"Hey" he says with a shy smile

"Hey" Maya returns

"I'm James" he extends his hand

"Maya" she shakes his hand

"Well we should get started, got any ideas?" he asks

"Not a clue"

James chuckles "Don't worry me either"

"Good then we''re on the same page" Maya teases

"Guess so" he laughs

" Less talking more working you too" Mr. Adams says as he walks by their table.

"Sorry" they say hiding their chuckles

After class

"Okay why don't you give me a call or something so we can set up when we can meet to work on the project" Maya tells James as they walk out of class.

"Sounds good" James tells her

At that moment Riley approaches her friend

"Hey Maya" Riley says

"Hey Riles, this my Bio partner James, James this my best friend Riley" Maya introduces them.

"Nice to meet you Riley" James says smiling at the brunette

"You too" Riley says

James turns back to Maya "Okay well we'll be in touch"

Maya nods "Okay"

James smiles at her before turning around and leaving

"He so likes you!" Riley squeals quietly as soon as James is out of earshot.

Maya rolls her eyes "No he doesn't "

They begin walking to their lockers

"Oh please you must be blind he had heart eyes the whole time he was looking at you"

"Your delusional Riles" Maya says

'"Oh come on he is so into you, plus he is very cute" Riley says

"He's alright" Maya shrugs

"Who's alright?" Farkle asks as he approaches the girls

"Maya's new science partner James " Riley teases

"eww girl talk bye' he walks away as the girls laugh

"Must be hard for him having best friends who are girls" Maya chuckles

Riley nods agreeing as they watch him walk away when suddenly she asks

"So when are you gonna see James again?"

Maya rolls her eyes and walks away

Meanwhile Lucas, Josh, and Zay are hanging by their lockers

"So you guys ready for the game Friday?" Josh asks

"Coach has us beyond ready i can't wait for it to be over" Lucas says

At that moment Missy walks past them

"Hey Lucas" she says smiling at him

"Dude she's so into you" Josh nudges him

Lucas rolls his eyes "Whatever"

"Forget it dude I've tried he seems to have his mind elsewhere" Zay teases as Lucas nudges him.

"What do you mean?" Josh asks confused

"Nothing he's just messing around" Lucas says before glaring at Zay who tries to look innocent

Josh looks between his friends "okay i feel like I'm missing something"

"Nope nothing at all" Lucas assures

Josh still looks unsure "Okay whatever let's get to class" he begins walking, Lucas follows but not before giving Zay a whack in the head

Later that afternoon Maya and Riley are in Riley's kitchen working on homework when Josh enters

"Hello ladies" he greets

"Hey" the girls reply

"What are you guys doing? he asks

"Homework, Algebra" Riley says unenthusiastically

"That sucks i hated it when I had to take it" he tells him as he sits down with them.

"Yeah you think you can help?" Riley asks

"I can try, not sure if i remember it all" he shrugs as he grabs the book to take a look at what they are working on.

The spend an hour working on it as Josh explains to them what he remembered. Once they were finished Riley excused herself to the restroom leaving Josh and Maya alone.

"Thanks for the help" Maya says

Josh shrugs "No problem, hopefully i was useful" he teases

"Yes you were" Maya assures

"So how ya been?" Josh asks

"Pretty good, you?" she asks

"i'm good, he, so when are you going to show me those sketches of yours" he asks

"As soon as i can come up with a few decent ones" she teases

"I'm sure any sketch you show me will be amazing"

Maya smiles "Thanks"

They stay there sitting across from each other just staring at one another when all of a sudden Maya's phone goes off.

"Sorry" she mumbles

"It's fine, answer it" Josh assures her

"Hello?" She answers

"Hey Maya. It's James"

"Oh hi James whats up?"

Josh remains silent as he tries to listen to the conversation

"just wanted to see if you were up for working on the project tomorrow?" he asks

"Yeah okay, where do you want to meet?" she asks

"How about we meet after school and we can head over to my place" he offers

"okay sounds good, see you tomorrow" she says she hangs up

"So who was that?" Josh asks curiously

"Oh that was my science partner his names James" Maya explains

Josh nods "And what did James want?" he asks he knew he was prying but he couldn't help himself for some reason.

"He wants me to come over to work on a project"

"To his house?" he asks

"Yeah" Maya nods

At that moment Riley comes back

"Hey so you wanna watch a movie or something?" she asks

"Actually I better get home I'll see you at school" Maya says as she begins to get her things together

"Okay see you tomorrow peaches" Riley says

Maya turns to Josh "Bye Josh"

"Bye" Josh says as Maya walks to the door and leaves.

Riley begins to clear her stuff

"Hey Riles, do you know who James is?" Josh asks

"James?" Riley thinks for a moment before remembering "Oh yeah that's Maya's science partner, I met him today,seems nice"

Josh nods

"Why? Jealous?" Riley smirks at her brother

Josh scoffs "Of course not"

"Then why so curious?"

"Because I've known Maya for years and I just wanna make sure this guy is okay" Josh tries to rationalize

"Sure" Riley says unconvinced

"Whatever" Josh says as he gets up and heads to his room

"He is so jealous" Riley squeals


	13. Chapter 13

The next day at school

Riley is alone at her locker when Farkle approaches her

"Hey Riles"

Riley turns to her friend "Hey Farkle, so where's Smackle?" she teases her best friend

"She had a student council meeting" he shrugs

Riley nods "You must be proud of your girlfriend, being student council president"

"Very" Farkle gushes

Riley giggles at how cute Farkle was, she could tell he really loved Smackle

"Hey, so are you coming to the game Friday?" Farkle asks

"Uh I'm not sure"

"Come on it will be fun you can come with me and Smackle" he offers

"Maybe" Riley says

"Hey Riley"

Both turn to see Lucas approaching them

"Hey" Riley says

"Hi" Lucas says smiling at her

Frazzle looks between the two and then decides to leave them alone

"Okay well i'll catch up with later Riles, let me know what you decide about the game" he says

Riley nods as Farkle leaves.

"What's this about the game? are you coming?" Lucas asks kind of hopeful

"Not sure yet" Riley says

"Well i think you should come, you'll have fun plus your family will be there right, to see Josh" Lucas assumes

"Yeah" Riley nods

"Actually I also came to see if you wanted to come to the after party at my house, nothing big just some of the players and cheerleaders and some friends"

Riley smiles "um maybe"

Lucas smiles "well think about it"

"okay "

"okay" Lucas repeats

The bell rings

"Well i better get to class, Ill see you around" Lucas says

"See you" Riley replies as Lucas walks away

Riley tries to keep a straight face but she can't hide the smile thats forming on her face.

After school Josh Lucas and Zay are getting their things to go home

"Hey so you guys wanna hang out at my place?" Josh asks his friends

"Sure I'm in' Zay shrugs

"Me too" Lucas replies

Maya walks up to them

"Hey Josh"

"Hey" Josh smiles

"Can you give this to Riley i couldn't find her and I know she needs it for tomorrow" she says handing him a textbook

"Yeah sure no problem" Josh says as he accepts the textbook

"Thanks" Maya smiles

"Hey Maya, you ready to go" James comes up behind her

"Yeah lets go, bye Josh" she says as she and James walk away

"Bye" Josh replies as he watches them walk away

"You okay man?" Lucas asks

Josh looks back at his friends "Yeah, you guys ready?"

"Lets go" Zay says

They begin to head towards the exit

Riley enters the apartment with her mom to find the 3 guys seated on the couch

"Hey mom hey Riles" Josh calls out to them

"Hello boys" Toponga calls out to the boys

"Hey Mrs. Matthews" The guys reply

"Hey" Lucas says looking at Riley

"Hey" Riley repeats smiling at the blonde boy before leaving and heading to her room.

"Josh can you come help me with a couple boxes i have in the car?" Topanga asks

"Sure, be right back guys" Josh says before exiting with his mom leaving Lucas and Zay by themselves.

"Hey" Zay mimics Lucas

"Shut up" Lucas mumbles as he elbows Zay who is laughing

"Dude you got it bad" Zay chuckles

"I do not"

"I think she likes you too" Zay comments

"You think?" Lucas asks hopeful which makes Zay chuckles at his friend. He had never seen Lucas this way about any girl. He could tell that Lucas really liked her.

"So what are you going to do?" Zay asks

Lucas sighs "I don't know"

"Have you told Josh?" he asks

"No, you think he'll be mad?" Lucas asks

Zay shrugs "He'll probably freak for a bit but he'll gelt over it"

Lucas nods. At that moment Josh and Topanga reappear carrying boxes

"Just leave them here" Topanga instructs Josh

He does as told and goes back to his friends

"Hey so what are we talking about?"

"Nothing" Lucas says giving Zay a "keep quiet" stare

Meanwhile Maya and James enter his house

"Mom, Im home" James shouts

"In the kitchen" a voice shouts back

Maya follows James into the room

"Hey mom"

"Hi sweetie" she says

"This Maya my science partner" James introduces her

"Hello Maya nice to meet you" she says kindly

"You too" Maya says smiling

"Well James your friend is very pretty'

"Mother" James says and Maya giggles

"Thank you Mrs. Peters"

"Oh please call me Natalie" she says

"Okay well we'll be in my room' he says

Maya follows him upstairs and into his room

"Sorry about my mom she can be kind of embarrassing sometimes" he says

"I think she's nice" Maya says truthfully

Maya looks around the room, it was pretty big and had walls full of posters of different bands and even some sports team.

"So your a soccer fan?" Maya asks

"Yeah"

"Do you play?" she asks curiously

"Yeah since i was 8" he answers

"That's cool"

She continues looking around when she sees a guitar at the corner

"You play guitar too?" she asks as she walks over to pick it up

"Oh yeah. I havent played in years though" he says kind of embarrassed

"This is a great guitar" she admires it

"Thanks, do you play?" he asks

Maya nods "Yeah i just started a while ago so im not that good" she admits

"I doubt that, we should jam sometimes" he offers

Maya chuckles "Maybe"

"Well we should get started"

"So did you find out anything interesting?" Riley asks later that night when they were on the phone.

"He's a soccer player and he plays the guitar" Maya shrugs

"That's cool" Riley says impressed

"Yeah and his mom's really nice' Maya tells her

"Aww that's cute" Riley gushes

Maya rolls her eyes "Shut up"

Riley giggles

"So are you going to the game?" Maya asks

"I think so. Farkle invited me you coming?"

"Yeah if you go"

"Cool" she says and then pauses before she adds "And Lucas invited me to an after party at his house"

"aww" maya mimics

"Shut up"

"So are you going?"

"Im not sure"

"You know you wanna go" Maya tells her

"Yeah but it's just gonna be all those popular kids including Missy" she rolls her eyes as she mentions her name.

"So what, Lucas totally wants you there"

"Will you go with me?" Riley asks

"Of course"

"Okay then I guess i'm in"

"Good, well ill see you tomorrow at school" Maya tells her

"Okay see you peaches"

They hang up. She sends a text to Farkle letting him know she had decided to go to the game. He texts back almost immediately with an"awesome".

She decides to start her homework and then remembers Maya had told her she had given her book to Josh to give to her. So she gets up and heads out the room.

As soon as she walked out of the door she bumped into someone

"Oh hey" Lucas says

"Hey"

"I was just coming to say bye"

"Oh okay, I guess ill see you at school"

"Yeah, have you decided if your coming Friday?" he asks hoping she'll say she's going.

"Yes I will be there" she assures him

"That's great" he smiles brightly

Riley nods "yeah and I'm bringing Maya"

"That's cool"

"And probably Farkle and his girlfriend"

"That''s cool too" Lucas says less excited at the mention of Farkle but he reminds himself that he has a girlfriend.

"Hey Luke you ready?" Zay says walking up to him

"Yeah let's go" he turns back to Riley "Well see ya tomorrow"

"See ya" Riley repilies

"Bye" Lucas says

"Bye" she repeats

Zay rolls his eyes and pulls Lucas with him "Later Riley" Zay calls as they leave.

Riley waves goodbye to them as she giggles at the 2 friends.


	14. Chapter 14

The night of the game had finally arrived. Riley arrived with her friends to the school and headed off to the football field. They found seats high enough to be able to see everything. Riley had never been to these games before. She had always told her parents no when they asked her to go. It looked like the whole school was there supporting the team she could see her parents and Auggie sitting below them. Her parents were wrapped together in a blanket together, Riley smiled at how cute they looked.

"I'm glad you decided to finally come to a game Riles" Farkle comments as they wait for the players to arrive.

"Yeah me too, this is actually pretty cool" Riley comments as she looks around at all the die hard football fans.

Soon the game began and all the players ran out onto the field. They had on their helmets so Riley couldn't tell who was who, the only one she knew was that Josh was 23. The crowd was pretty loud and hyper the entire time, Soon half time came and the both teams were tied. Riley watched as the team came over to the bench, they took off her helmets, Riley quickly found her brother talking to another teammate. Riley couldn't tell who it was but as soon as they took their helmet off Riley immediately recognized him, it was Lucas, even though he was covered in sweat Riley still thought he looked amazing.

"Don't forget to blink Riley" Maya teases

"Shut up" Riley says embarrassed

Riley noticed Lucas look up and searched the stands and when his eyes met Riley he immediately smiled and waved.

Riley blushed as she returned it with a shy wave.

"He is so in love with you" Maya says

"Shut up, no he's not" Riley says trying to hide her blush.

"You can deny it all you want but it doesn't change the fact that he does like you"

"You think so?" she asks

"I know so" Maya reassures

Half time ended soon and the players went soon. The next half seemed to end quicker and they won the game. The stands went crazy with joy as they cheered and yelled.

The friends make their way down to the bleacher where they find Riley's family was already there waiting for Josh.

After he and his teammates finished congratulating each other Josh ran up to his family.

"Congrats son that was a good game" Mr. Matthews congratulated his son

"Thanks dad" Josh smiles at his father

"Well it's getting late and it's cold, so i think well head out but you guys have fun at the party, and be safe" Topanga tells them

The teens nod and say bye to the adults as they leave.

"So, i'll head and take a quick shower and then we'll head out to the party" Josh tells them

"Okay we'll be here waiting" Riley tells him. He leaves to the locker room with the other players

The 4 teens take a seat on the bleacher as they wait for Josh.

Josh came out 10 minutes later and they headed for his car and headed for the party.

They arrive at the party and see that most of the team is already there as well as the cheerleaders and some other classmates. It was a bigger crowd than expected.

"Dudes got a nice house" Maya comments as she looks around the big house

"Yeah, his parents work for some big company, something to do with computers I'm not really sure" Josh explains

Josh is soon whisked away by a couple of footballers leaving Riley and her friends by themselves.

"Let's get something to drink" Smackle says as she pulls Farkle with her to the kitchen.

Riley and Maya are standing by themselves when Lucas notices them and walks up to them

"Hey" he says smiling at the girls

"Hi" Riley says

Maya looks between the two then says "I'll be in the kitchen with Farkle and Smackle" she walks away leaving them by themselves

"You have a nice house" Riley compliments

"Thanks my mom decorated it herself" Lucas comments

"She has nice taste"

"Yeah I guess , so im glad you came" Lucas says smiling at her

"Me too" Riley confesses shyly

"Yo, Lucas come on they want a group photo" One of his teammates shouts for him to come

"I'll be right back" He tells her as she nods

Lucas goes to join his teammates leaving Riley by herself. She felt uncomfortable surrounded by all these people.

Sure they went to her school but they never had spoken to her. To them she was probably Josh's little sister.

She went to go find her friends who were hanging out by the kitchen.

"Hey where's Lucas?" Maya asks

"With his friends" Riley tells him

She watches him with his friends and sees Missy approach him. Once again reminding her how different they were.

He was popular

She was not

He was outgoing

She was painfully shy

Why did she even consider she could compete with girls like Missy

Maybe coming here was a big mistake

"You okay Riles?" Maya asks

"Yeah I'm fine" Riley says smiling weakly

The party continued and she hadn't seen Lucas for a while. He seemed to be busy with his friends.

She had excused herself from her friends to use the restroom.

She was making her way back downstairs, as she was walking she looked at the pictures most of them were of Lucas growing up. She smiled as she looked at an old Halloween picture.

"Hey"

She turns to see Lucas

"Hi"

He gets closer and sees the picture she is looking at

"I kind of hate that picture" he chuckles

"I think it's cute" she says shyly

'Thanks" he says smiling at her

They stay there silent for a moment

"I'm sorry we haven't gotten a chance to hangout tonight" he says kind of disappointed the night hadn't gone the way he wanted. He had hoped to get some alone time with her.

"It's okay, you've been busy" Riley smiles assuring him

"So are you having fun" he asks

"Yeah, it's okay" Riley tries to say convincingly.

"I honestly didn't expect this many people" Lucas chuckles

"Well you are quite popular" she teases

"I guess" Lucas shrugs like it's no big deal, "I hope the game wasn't too boring for you" he adds

"It wasn't as bad as I thought is was going to be, it was kind of fun" she admits

"Im glad" he says smiling at her

"So what are you doing up here instead of entertaining your guests?" she asks curiously

"I was looking for you, I asked Maya where you were and she told me you came up here" he explains

"You were looking for me?" she asks trying to hide her smile

"Yeah, you feel like getting some fresh air?, we can go outside" he offers

"Sure" she says

They make their way down stairs and make their way to the back door to avoid getting caught

"Hey, where's Riley?" Josh asks as he approaches the blonde

"I'm not sure she said she was using the bathroom" Maya informs her

Josh nods "So what are you doing here, all by yourself?" he asks

"Riley's MIA and I didn't want to be a third wheel" she explains motioning to Farkle and Smackle who had started a conversation with another couple.

Josh chuckles "Yeah sucks when you are hanging out with just couples"

Maya nods agreeing "Yeah"

The 2 stand there in silence till Maya breaks it

"Good game by the way"

"Thanks, and I was surprised to see you there, you usually don't come" he comments

"Riley asked me to so I decided to" she explains

"And I was MORE surprised to see her there" he says

"She felt like coming to a game" Maya shr

"And it has nothing to do with Lucas inviting her?" he asks

"I don't know what you are talking about" she says trying to play dumb

"Oh come on Maya, I'm not blind she totally likes the guy"

"Would that be bad?" Maya asks carefully

"It's kind of weird to think about it but Lucas is a good guy" he answers

"That's good to know, but if he ever hurts Riley, the dudes toast" Maya threatens

"Hey that's my job" Josh laughs

'Okay, you can help" Maya teases

Josh continues to laugh as looks at the blonde. He had grown up with Maya and had always seen her as her little sisters best friend. But he's realizing there's another side of her he never noticed,

She was smart, funny, artistic and very pretty.

How had he not noticed this before?

He tried to shake the thoughts out of his head, he had never thought of Maya in that way before and he shouldn't, she's like a sister to him.

His thoughts are interrupted by the blonde standing in front of him

"Well it's getting late, I should get home" she tells him

"Okay, do you want a ride?" he offers

"No, it's okay, I don't want to make you leave, I'll just take a cab" she says

"I really don't mind Maya" he assures her

Maya smiles "Okay, I'll go get Riley" she says before walking upstairs to try and find Riley

Josh is left watching her walk away


	15. Chapter 15

Lucas and Riley found themselves in his backyard. Riley saw that there was a swing set and walked over to sit on one.

"Haven't used it since I was kid, my cousins still use it when they come to visit" he says as he follows her.

"I like swings I wish I had one, downside of living in an apartment" she chuckles as she begins to swing. Lucas goes to the one next to her and begins to swing as well.

They swing in comfortable silence for a moment

"I forgot how much fun it was to swing" Lucas chuckles as he continues to pump his legs to go higher.

"It's fun to re live your childhood" Riley giggles

"So for your first football game, what did you think?" he asks her

"It was okay, didn't realize how insane the crowds could get" she chuckles

"Yeah they can get a bit crazy sometimes" he agrees

"It was fun though" she admits

"That's good to hear, do you think you'll be coming to more games?" he asked hopeful.

"Maybe" she replies

That made Lucas happy to hear

"Well I hope you do, I kind of like seeing you up on the stands" he admits

She swore she could hear her heart beat faster "Really?" she asks

"Yeah, I was a bit nervous before the game but seeing you there...made me feel better" he admits hoping he wouldn't scare her off.

If she though her heart was beating fast before, now it was going a mile a minute

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to freak you out or anything" he says quickly as he started to get worried that she hasn't said anything

"No, no it's fine, that was actually very sweet" she assures him

"Good" he smiles

They had stopped swinging and were now just staring at each other.

"You have really pretty eyes" he blurts out

Riley blushes and looks down

"Thank you" she says quietly as she looks down

He pushes his swing to hit hers making her laugh

"Have I freaked you out yet" he teases

Riley giggles "Are you trying to?"

"No that's the last thing I wanna do" he says honestly

He's too perfect. He can't be real Riley's thought tell her

"We've been out here a while maybe you should get back to your guests" she suggests

"They'll be fine by themselves for a while longer, besides,.. I like spending time here with you" he admits

Riley smiles "I like spending time with you too" she admits

They find themselves again just staring at each other. The wind started kicking in and Riley let out a small shiver which Lucas noticed and immediately started taking off his jacket

"Here" he says

"No its fine" she tries to protest but he still shoves the coat in her arms

"it's fine, really" he insists

"But what about you?" she asks while she slides her arms into the coat

"I'm okay, don't worry about me" he assures

He was honestly the kindest guy she had ever met

He smiles at the sight of her in his jacket "It looks good on you" he compliments

She blushes once again "Thanks, its kind of big on me though" she chuckles

It was true her small body was hidden in his huge jacket making Lucas chuckle

"Yeah your a small little thing aren't you" he teases

"Hey, I may be small but Im tougher than I look" she threatens

"Yeah right" he teases.

"Oh yeah" she says as she gets up from her swing and goes over to punch him but Lucas grabs her hands

Neither could contain their laughter as she tries to get out of his grip but he just holds on tighter . Eventually they both stop laughing and struggling when they realize how close their faces had gotten

They stay like that very close to each other their faces inches apart

Lucas stares right at her big brown eyes and can't help but lean in

Riley finds herself holding her breath as she closes her eyes

"There you are"

Both jump away and stand up to see Josh and Maya coming their way

"We've been looking all over for you" Josh scolds his sister

"Yeah sorry we lost track of time" Lucas apologizes

"Riles you ready to go?" Josh asks

Riley nods "Yeah" she turns to look at Lucas "Bye" she says softly but Lucas still hears

"Dude great party as aways, ill talk to you later" Josh says as they fist bump

"Yeah see ya, " he says still kind of dazed

Maya and Riley had started walking leaving the boys behind

"So how come every party we've been to, it always winds up with you and Lucas by yourselves outside" Maya teases

"I don't know how come every time you find me, your with Josh?" she fires back

Maya rolls her eyes but doesn't say anything because Josh had caught up to them

"You guys ready?" he asks

Both girls nod

"Okay let's go'

The 3 teens head out. The girls wait our front while Josh goes to get the car

"So what happened?" Maya as soon as Josh is out of earshot

Riley rolls her eyes "Nothing happened" she insists

"Oh really, then why are you wearing his jacket?" she asks

Riley eyes widen as she looks at the jacket and realizes she still had it on

"Oh my gosh I forgot, I have it on I have to give it back" she says

Josh arrives with the car

"Give it to him later, I need to get him before curfew" the blonde says pulling her best friend to the car

Back inside Lucas had joined the party again

"Luke man where you been?" he asks as he approaches his friend

"I was outside" he says simply

"By yourself?" he asks

"No, I was with Riley" he replies

Zay smirks "My man! you finally told her" he says putting a hand on his friends shoulder

"No, I didn't we just talked" he explains . "But..." he adds

"But?" Zay asks

He looks around to make sure no one else was listening

"We kind of almost...kissed" he explains and he can't help the small smile that spread just thinking about it.

Zay's eyes widen "almost, what happened?" he asks

"Josh and Maya came" he explains

"Dude that sucks" Zay sympathizes

"I know" Lucas says heaving a sigh

"So what's your next move?" he asks

Lucas shrugs "I don't know, I've nervous I don't want to scare her off, maybe she doesn't like me that way" he explains

"Dude I've seen the way she looks at you, it's the same way you look at her, trust me you both got it bad" he assures his friend

Lucas chuckles "Thanks man"

"You just need to spend more time with her" Zay suggests "Find out what she likes and do that"

Lucas smiles "That's a great a idea, thanks Zay" Lucas pats his friend's back

"No problem man"

As soon as Riley gets home she gets ready for bed but she doesn't go straight to sleep

She ends up laying in bed just thinking about that whole scene in Lucas' back yard

Was Lucas really going to kiss her?

She could still picture his perfect face right in front of hers and his eyes looking straight into hers

she couldn't stop the smile that spread when she thought about it

She looked over to the chair in the corner of her room where she had laid Lucas' jacket she got up and went to put it on and crawled back into bed.

Letting Lucas' scent drift her off to sleep with a smile on her face.


	16. Chapter 16

Monday soon arrived and it was back to school

Lucas found himself staring at the same spot for a while now, thinking that if he stared at it long enough, she may appear.

"I think I saw Josh's car pull up when I got here, so she should be here soon" Zay teases his best friend

Lucas rolls his eyes and turns back to look at his friend

"I don't know what you are talking about" He tries to act clueless

Zay rolls his eyes as he opens his locker

"Dude I feel everyday you are less subtle" Zay teases again

"I can't help it, theres something about her that I can't explains" he sighs as he leans against his locker

Zay laughs "Wow if this is how I am when I talk about Vanessa, I am so sorry"

Lucas chuckles and play punches his friends shoulder

"Look who's here" Zay says nodding at something behind Lucas

Lucas turns to see Riley putting things in her locker, he quickly walks over

"Hey" he says as he approaches her

Riley turns and smiles "Hi"

"Uh so how was the rest of your weekend?" he asks

"It was good thanks, how was yours?" she asks

"Good" he nods

They stand there for a moment before Riley remembers and she turns to pull it out of her locker where she had placed it.

"Oh, I have your jacket, sorry I forgot to give it back to you at the party" she says kind of embarrassed,

"You didn't have to bring it back" he tells her honestly, liking the idea of her having something of his.

"Yes I did, and thanks again" she smiles at him

"Anytime" he says staring at her

"I better get to class"

"Okay, well I'll see you around"

"Yeah okay" she says smiling before turning to walk to her first class

Lucas watches her walk away before turning back and walking back to a smirking Zay

"Please tell me I'm not as whipped as you?" Zay teases

Lucas rolls his eyes

Riley walks into her Drama Class like any other day and finds her seat in the back

She hated this class

Shyness and performing do not mix well

She hated performing and being front of a bunch of people who were staring at her

But unfortunately for her it was a requirement to take a fine art and theater was the only thing available

The Drama teacher Mrs. Parker came into class and asked for their attention

"Okay class, as you know Mr. Smith our other drama teacher has had to take time off because of family obligations so now we are short a teacher and as a result we will have to be joining some classes together, so as of today, Mr. Smith 10th grade class will be joining us" she explains as she welcomes in a group of people entering the class

Riley watched as the sophomores came in and tried to find open seats

She was in shock when she saw a familiar blonde boy making his way inside looking for a seat.

Lucas scans the room and then his eyes brighten when he sees her sitting in the back , he makes his way to the open seat next to her

"Hey" he says smiling brightly

"hi" she replies giving him a small smile

"So i guess we're in the same class now" he comments trying to hide the fact of how excited he was that he would get to spend a whole hour with her

"Looks like it" she chuckles

"Okay settle down everyone, for our first project we will be breaking up into partners and you will be given a scene and you will perform it in front of the class" the teacher explains " and to make it more fun, you will pick your scene from out of this bag" she holds up a small bag and shakes it to start mixing the pieces of paper

Riley was dreading this part, she hadn't even started the project and she was already dreading performing in front of everyone.

"So everyone pick a partner and then come on up " the teacher instructs

Lucas immediately turns to her "Partner?" he asks

Riley nods "sure"

"Great" he says excited that he finally had an excuse to spend more time with her

Both stand up to head over to the teacher

Lucas motions for Riley to go ahead and pick

Riley nervously sticks her hand in and picks up a piece of paper and reads it

"What scene did we get?" Lucas asks leaning over to see the paper

"The balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet" Riley says trying hard not to blush

"Oh that's one of my favorite scenes, Riley you'll make a cute Juliet" Mrs. Parker gushes before turning to the next pair of partners

"So uh how about I head over to your place after practice and we can start practicing?" Lucas asks

"Sound good" Riley agrees

Lucas smiles "great this is gonna be fun" trying to hide how excited he was

Maya was at her locker getting her things for her next class when James approaches

"Hey partner" he says smiling at the blonde

"Hey" she says returning the smile

"So you free after school to work on the project?" he asks

Maya nods "yeah, you wanna come to my house this time?" she asks

"Sure sound great"

"Cool, well meet me here and then we'll head over" she explains

"You got it, see you then" he smiles before heading to his next class

As he leaves Riley approaches Maya

"So what did he want?" she teases

"He just wanted to discuss the project" she asks teasingly

"Yes Riley, the project"

"Maybe your only concern is the project but I'm pretty sure the dude has other things on his mind"

Maya rolls her eyes "and how do you know that?"

"Please its so obvious, the way he looks at you" Riley insists

Maya rolls her eyes

as she closes her locker and walks away

After football practice

"Hey man, you wanna grab something to eat" Zay asks the blonde boy as they are finishing getting dressed in the locker room

"Sorry, can't I have plans" he says trying to hide the big smile he gets just thinking about seeing the cute brunette

"Oh really, what kind of plans?" he asks

"I'm working on a project with Riley!"

"Nice bro, what you studying?" he asks

"Drama, Romeo & Juliet" he says

"Why looks like the Gods have smiled on you" Zay teases

"I know this is exactly the opportunity I needed to get to know her better"

At that moment comes back from the showers

"Hey guys what's up?" he asks as he opens his locker and begins to change

"Nothing just Lucas telling me about his drama class and his project ?" Zay tells him

Lucas glares

"What's the project?" Josh asks as he puts on his shirt

"I have to do a scene with a partner" Lucas explains

"Sounds fun, who's your partner?"

Zay watches enjoying the scene

"uh actually it's Riley" Lucas tells him

"Oh really?'" Josh says trying to hide his smirk

"Yeah and I better get going cause I'm suppose to go over and start working" he says as he closes his locker and pull his bag over his shoulder

"Okay man see you there I guess" he teases as he watches his friend leave

"you know already don't you" Zay asks turning to look at Josh

"Dude i'm not blind" Josh chuckles

"So you gonna tell him you know?' Zay asks

"I will...eventually" he laughs


	17. Chapter 17

Riley enters the living room to see her mom working

"Hi sweetie, Listen I have to head over to the shop to help Katy once I finish this, would you like to come?" her mother asks

"Uh I would love to but I'm working on a project and my partner should be here any minute now" Riley explains

"Oh that's okay, what class?" Topanga asks

"Drama" she replies

"Oh how fun, so who's your partner?" she asks

"Lucas"

"Oh that's nice. I like that boy, he's so polite and so sweet"

Riley nods smiling slightly "yeah he is"

Topanga notices the small smile on her daughters face "And he's cute too" she smirks

"Mom!"

"What I'm just stating a fact" Her mothers says innocently

Riley rolls her eyes at her mother

Soon there is a knock at the door

"That must be him" Riley says as she makes her way to the door and opens it to reveal the tall blonde

"Hey" he says smiling brightly as soon as he sees her

"Hi"

Riley steps aside and Lucas makes his way inside and smiles when he sees the older woman

"Hi Mrs. Matthews" he greets

"Hello Lucas nice to see you again" she smiles warmly at the young man

"Uh let's go to my room" she says as she makes her way to her room with Lucas following

"I've always hated science" Maya comments as she and James are sat at her kitchen table working. Her parents had gone out so it wax just the 2 of them.

James chuckles "Well then it's a good thing that I don't"

Maya nods "True, with you I may actually get an A"

"I knew you were using me for my brain" he teases making her giggle

"you caught me"

James laughs before checking the time on his phone "Well I think we have done enough for one night, I should be getting home" he tells her

"Okay"

He finishes getting his stuff together and Maya walks him to the door all of a sudden he turns to look at the blonde

"Oh I almost forgot, you like art right" he says remembering her mentioning it in one of the first conversations they have had

Maya nods "Yeah why?" she asks

"Well did you hear about the new art exhibit that was opening next week?" he asks

Maya nods "yeah, It's suppose to be really cool, a bunch of new artists showing their work" she says remembering an article she read online

"Would you like to go?" he asks

"I thought it wasn't open to public yet"

"My mom is on the committee, she can get us in" he explains

"wow that would be amazing" she smiles

'So is that a yes?" he asks with a hopeful smile

Maya chuckles "Yeah, I would love to"

James smiles "Great, well I'll see you later" he says before opening the door and heading out

Riley giggles "Stop it"

Lucas laughs "What I'm just acting"

"I don't think Romeo had a British accent" she chuckles

"You don't know that" he fires back

"Well since it took place in Verona Italy, I pretty sure he didn't"

"So what you want me to do an Italian accent" he jokes

"NO Accent"

"Fine" he sighs dramatically "Man I never realized how bossy you were"

Riley giggles

Lucas smiles as he watched her , he felt like he was making progress and she was finally opening up to him

"Okay so how are we suppose to perform this when I do't even know what they are saying" Lucas tells her

 _ **"But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?it is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she."**_

"I have no idea what I just said" he tells her

Riley giggles "He's saying that she is so beautiful that even the moon is jealous of her" she explains

 _Then you are the perfect person for the role_

"How are you such an expert on shakespeare?" he asks

"It's my favorite play and this is actually my favorite scene" she admits

"Well then I guess I picked the right partner" he says

Riley tries to hide her blush by turning back to her script

"Uh lets keep going"

"Okay" Lucas agrees looking back down finding where they left off

 _ **"O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?**_ _"_

 _ **"What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?**_ _"_

 _ **"Th' exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.**_ _"_

Riley raises her hand to face Lucas

 _ **"I gave thee mine before thou didst request it, And yet I would it were to give again."**_

Lucas begins stepping closer and lifts his hand to touch hers

 _ **"Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?**_ _"_

Riley realizes how close they have become and can feel her heart start racing, she almost forgot it was her turn to speak

 _ **But to be frank, and give it thee again.**_

 _ **And yet I wish but for the thing I have.**_

 _ **My bounty is as boundless as the sea,**_

 _ **My love as deep. The more I give to thee,**_

 _ **The more I have, for both are infinite.**_

Lucas gets lost in her eyes he forgets for a moment that they are acting. All he can think about is grabbing her and kissing her.

They are now so close Riley can smell his cologne

Without thinking they both begin the lean in.

She can feel his breath on her face but she snaps out of her daze and backs away to give each other space

"Uh I think we're getting better" she says trying to laugh to lighten up the moment

"Yyyeah" Lucas stutters trying to compose himself.

Suddenly his phone beeps from his pocke and sees its a text from his mom

"I have to get home, mom needs me" he explains

Riley nods

"Okay, well I think we did enough for today anyway"

Lucas nods "This was kind of fun" he says

Riley chuckles "yeah it was"

"Can't wait to do it in front of the class"

"Yeah should be fun" she mumbles and Lucas right away knows she's nervous

He approaches her and puts a comforting hand on her shoulder

"Hey, you'll do great and if you get nervous, remember i'll be up there with you and we'll get through it together"

Riley smiles at how sweet he is "Thanks"

"Well I guess I'll see you at school"

Riley nods

Lucas begins to head out the door but then turns back

"Hey can I get your number?"

That took Riley for surprise

"I mean since we're partners and all we should be able to contact each other" he quickly says

"Yeah sure"

She walks over and puts her number in his phone then quickly sends herself a text so that she has his and gives it back

"Cool, well see you tomorrow" he says

"okay bye"

He takes one last look at her before heading out the door

"So how was your study date?" Maya asks her on the phone later that night

"It wasn't a date, we were just rehearsing" Riley explains

"uh huh sure"

"So how was yours?" Riley asks trying to change the subject

"it was actually pretty good we got a lot done, James is pretty smart, oh and he invited me that art exhibit i told you about"

"WAIT, he asked you out?" she asks

'What? no, his mom's on the committee and he knows I like art so he invited me to check it out"

"Sounds like a date" Riley tells her

"It's not a date...is it?" she asks no longer sure

"A cute guy taking you out, looking at beautiful art, sounds like a date" Riley answers

"Do you think he thinks it's a date?"

"I don't know, maybe you should ask him"

"Maybe, well goodnight sweetie, see you at school"

"Night peaches" she says before hanging up.

Riley sets her phone on the stand by her bed but not 2 seconds later it beeps. She assumes it must be Maya texting her about something.

But she was wrong it wasn't from Maya

 ** _Sweet dreams Juliet ;)_**

As she went to sleep she couldn't take that smile off her face


	18. Chapter 18

The whole day had passed and Maya had tried to avoid doing it but she knew she had to ask him eventually so she might as well get it over with.

She took a deep breath before walking up to James who was standing at his locker

"Hey" she says to get his attention

James turns around and smiles brightly seeing the blonde in front of him

"Hey, so I talked to my mom and we're all set for next weekend" he informs her

"Great' Maya tries to answer as enthusiastically as she can

"Everything okay?" he asks

"Yeah, I'm good it's just..." she says not knowing how to phrase it without the situation becoming awkward.

"Just what?" he asks

Maya sighs before speaking "James, why did you ask me to this art exhibit?" she asks

"Um because I thought you may enjoy it since you like art" he explains not fully understanding what she was getting at

"No, I mean...is this a date?" she finally decides to get to the point

"Is that what you are nervous about? you thought it was a date" he asks

Maya feels a little embarrassed now

"I didn't but, Riley did and then I wasn't sure" she explains

"Maya, I just thought it would be fun to check this exhibit out, as friends" he clarifies

"I am totally embarrassed now" she says with a nervous chuckle afraid she just made everything between them awkward

"no need to be" he reassures her "Well, i need to get to home but we're still on for the art exhibit, I hope you haven't changed your mind just because of this misunderstanding" he smiles hopeful

Maya can't believe how sweet this guy is

"definitely" she assures him

James smies "Great, well I'll talk to you soon" he says before smiling one more time at the blonde before heading toward the exit.

Maya watches him as he walks away

Meanwhile the guys were at football practice.

Once again Lucas and Zay were the last ones in the locker room finishing changing, Josh had texted them that he was running late.

"So how did the rehearsing go, Romeo?" Zay teases

Lucas chuckles "It went great, you were right all I needed to do was spend some time just me and her, I really felt like she was getting more comfortable around me" he says smiling brightly

"That's great man, so you think you gonna ask her out anytime soon?"

"I'm not sure yet, I want to, but I'm not sure how to do it" Lucas confesses

"Dude don't over think it, Just ask her out" Zay advises

"Ask who out?"

Both boys turn to see Josh

"Uh" Lucas hesitates looking at Zay for help but all he does is shrug "Might as well tell him"

"Tell me what?" Josh asks

Lucas sighs and realizes there's no way out

"Okay, um I know I should have told you sooner but I wasn't sure how you would react but...I...I Like Riley" he finally says and he kind of feels relieved once he finally let the words out

Josh tries to keep a straight face

"Riley as in my little sister"

Lucas nods "Yeah"

"So you like my sister?"

"Yes, look I know I should have told you but like I said I didn't want to freak you out."

Josh nods as he takes in what his friend was saying

"Look dude I understand if you wanna hit me or something, go ahead , but I really like her and I hope to ask her out someday"

"I'd hit him if I were you" Zay blurts

"Zay!" Lucas turns looking at his friend who he thought was on his side

"Sorry, I got caught up in the moment" Zay raises his hands in surrender

Lucas turns to Josh "So?" he asks

Josh walks forward and Lucas prepares himself for the worse

"Well, I guess all I have to say is...IT'S About Time" Josh laughs as he smacks him on back and then puts his arm around his friends shoulder who looks confused

"What?" Lucas asked surprised by his friends response

"Dude, I've known for a while"

Lucas turns to Zay "YOU TOLD HIM"

Zay shakes his head no

"Dude I figured it out on my own your not very good at hiding it"

"Well, why didn't you say anything before, I almost had a heart attack over telling you" Lucas demands

"More fun for me" Josh laughs as he let go of him and high five Zay who was also laughing

Lucas rolls his eyes "You guys are the worse"

Josh laughs "Sorry man"

"Whatever, well I'm just glad in the open, so are you okay with this?" he asks

"Well i'm not thrilled about my sister dating but she could do worse" Josh teases

Lucas chuckles "Thanks man"

They do a handshake

Josh quickly changes and the 3 guys head off to practice

"So it's not a date?" the brunette asks later that day when they are at Riley's house. They were currently laying on each end of the couch in the living room.

Maya shakes her head "Nope, so thanks for the most awkward moment of my life"

"Me? What did I do?" the brunette asks confused

"I didn't even think it was a date till you got into my head" she accuses

"Sorry, but I really thought it sounded like he was asking you out"

"Yeah well he didn't which is good because it would make Saturday very awkward" the blonde replies

Riley nods and pauses for a moment before asking the blonde a question

"If he had said it was a date, what would you have done?" she asks curiously

Maya was taken aback from that question she didn't see coming. She hadn't really thought about what she would had done if the situation had been different

Before she could say anything the door to the apartment opened and Josh arriving fro practice.

"Hey, guys" he greets as he drops his bag on the floor and heads to the kitchen to get something to drink

"Hey" Riley greets her brother

"What are you guys up to?" he asks as he opens the fridge

"Oh nothing just girl talk" his sister replies

Maya looks at the time

"I should get going, I'll talk to you later Riles" she says as she gets up and grabs her things

"Okay see you tomorrow, Hey! we should go shopping Friday, you can get something to wear on Saturday"

Maya nods "Okay, sounds good, call you later" she says as she heads out the door.

"Where you guys going Saturday?" Josh asks as he takes a seat on the couch with Riley

"Me nowhere, But Maya's going to an Art exhibit"

"Oh really thats cool, with Shawn?" he asks

"No actually, with James" she replies

At that moment she felt that she saw Josh's body goes tense.

He tries to compose himself before responding

"Her lab partner?" he tries to ask casually

"Yep, apparently his mom is on the committee and when he knew Maya liked art so he invited her"

"That was...nice of him" Josh replies looking down at the water bottle in his hands

"Yeah, I haven't really gotten to know him but from what I can tell he seems like a good guy"

Josh nods as he begins to play with the water bottle "So it's a date?" he asks curiously

Riley can't help but smile at her brothers behavior, it was obvious he was jealous. She wondered if she should lie? or should she just tell the truth.

"Well. I thought it was because it was so obvious he likes her" she comments

"And does she like him?" he asks

Riley shrugs "well she hasn't said anything,,,,,yet" she adds just to get a reaction out of him.

"Well I have homework" she says as she gets up and heads to her room.

Josh stays sitting there by himself confused as to what he was feeling.


	19. Chapter 19

"Well it took us like 5 stores but I finally found something" the blonde comments as she and the brunette make their way into the Matthews home with both arms full of shopping bags. They head to Riley's room and sit at their bay window

"Yeah, I think that's the most stores we've been to in a day" Riley giggles as they set their bags down on the floor.

"Yeah, and I can't believe you spent all that money on that dress"

"It's a beautiful dress" the brunette tells her

"Yeah, but it cost most of your allowance"

"Yeah, but it's not like I used my Emergency credit card"

Maya laughs "yeah like last time"

"Don't remind me, I'm still paying Josh off for helping me hide the bill from my dad"

"Yeah, your dad still has no idea about it" the blonde chuckles

"Speaking of my brother, I have some information that may interest you" the brunette teases

"What are you talking about?" the blonde asks confused

"Well, the other day Josh overheard us plan our shopping trip and he asked about this weekend and I told him. James asked you to the museum"

"So what?" Maya asked confused

"Well I may have left him with the impression it was a date" Riley says innocently

"What? why would you do that?" the blonde asked wide eyed

"I was curious to see what his reaction would be"

"Why?"

"Because I think my brother likes you"

That took Maya by surprise

"What?"

"You should have seen him when I mentioned James, he got all tense and he started asking all these questions, and he asked me if you liked James"

"And what did you say?" she asked anxiously

"That you haven't said anything to me, YET"

"Riley..." the blonde begins to scold

"Maya, you should have seen him, he was definitely jealous"

Maya shakes her head "No Riles, you might be reading to much into it, maybe it's not what you think"

"But what if it is?" Riley insists

"I don't think so Riles"

"Why is it so hard to believe?"

"Because I have been drooling over your brother for years and he has never noticed me and I am starting to think he never will"

"You don't know that, there's still hope"

"I don't think I'm that lucky Riles" Maya smiles sadly

"How come you push me to talk to Lucas and tell him how I feel, but when it comes to Josh you run away?"

"It's different Riles!"

"How?"

"Lucas didn't even know you, he didn't know who you were, that you existed till recently and he actually sees you and likes you , but I have known Josh almost my whole life and he has never seen me and I'm tired of getting my hopes up waiting for a guy that's never gonna be mine"

Riley stares sadly at her best friend. She never realized how much her brother's indifference affected her.

"Aww peaches" she hugs the blonde tightly

"I should be getting home" the blonde says as she lets go and goes to grab her bags.

"You gonna be okay?"

Maya gives her a small smile "I'll be fine, I'll talk to you later"

"okay , well have fun at the art gallery"

"Thanks" the blonde smiles at her best friend before exiting through the bay window

Meanwhile Lucas parents were out of town for the weekend visiting his grandma so he had the place to himself. He decided to have the guys over to hangout after practice.

"Dude, your so lucky, I wish my parents trusted me enough to leave me home alone for the whole weekend" Zay comments as he is searching the fridge looking for more things to put onto his sandwich.

"Well, maybe they would if you didn't almost burn down your house making popcorn " Josh teases

"One time" Zay points out

"Well just to be on the safe side, stay away from any electrics in my mom's kitchen, I promised to keep the house in one piece" Lucas chuckles

"I'll be careful" he promises.

"So you guys wanna do something this weekend?" Lucas asks his friends

"Can't, I'm going with my dad's best friend to a shoot, he's gonna let me help take some pictures" Josh explains kind of excited "in fact I should be getting home to get ready" he explains checking the time on his phone

"dude you can't just leave, it's guys night" Zay begins to protest when his phone beeps telling him he had a text.

"Oh it's Vanessa, her practice ended early, see ya" he says before grabbing the sandwich he was making and heading out the door. Leaving the other two guys laughing.

"Please tell me I wasn't that bad" Josh asks

"No comment" Lucas chuckles "speaking of which, I hear Sophie has moved on"

"Yeah, I know, I saw her with Greg Archer by his car, she moved on quickly" Josh chuckles

"yeah, you okay?" Lucas asks

"I'm great, I wish them the best" Josh tells him truthfully.

"Good for you man" Lucas pats his friend on the back

"So moving on to you, I know we're friends and all but I'm still gonna to give you the , hurt my sister I hurt you speech with you" Josh explains to him as serious as he can

Lucas chuckles "Don't worry man, I would never, I really like her " he assures with no doubt

"I know you do". He could see that he was serious, he could tell by the goofy smile on his face that he gets when he sees her or even mentions her.

"So what's your move?" he asks

"I'd like to get to know her but it feels like we're hardly ever alone" he explains

"Well, both her friends have plans this weekend, so she is free this weekend?"

"Really?" Lucas asks. A smile forming on his face at this new information. He is instantly pulling out his phone.

"You may wanna wait, she went shopping with Maya and knowing my sister they won't be out till they buy out the store' Josh explains.

That night after Josh left. Lucas got ready for bed and as he layed in bed he grabbed his phone and sent the brunette a message.

 ** _Hey, you think you may want to rehearse this weekend?_**

He presses send and waits for a reply. While it may have only took a few minutes, for him it felt longer

 _sure_

a smile formed

 ** _great see you tomorrow!_**

 ** _okay, night Lucas :)_**

 ** _s_ _weet dreams Riley :)_**

He couldn't take that smile off his face, he couldn't wait for tomorrow, Sure it was just a study session, but maybe he can turn it into more.

The next day

Maya is in her room as she finishes getting ready she had on her new dark blue knee high dress with a nice cardigan and her favorite boots.

She looked at herself one last time before grabbing her bag and heading out the room when the door bell rang. She quickly headed to the door and expected to see James but is surprised to see it wasn't him.

"Josh? what are you doing here?" she asks

"Me and Shawn are going to a photo shoot" he explains

"Oh" was all Maya said. How could Shawn have forgotten to mention that to her.

At that moment Shawn comes into the room

"Hey Josh, right on time, let me just make a call and we'll head out"

Josh nods as he walks past the blonde to the enter the apartment.

Shawn has left the room leaving them alone. The room is full of silence till Josh finally decides to break it.

"So you're heading to the art gallery?"

Maya nods "yeah, I'm just waiting for James" she explains

Josh nods. At that moment the door bell rings and Maya answers

"Hey Maya, you ready?" James asks smiling widely at the blonde

"Yeah, come in for a sec" she steps aside to let him in

"Hi I;m James" he says as he politely offers his hand to Josh politely

"Josh" he shakes his hand.

"uh..Josh is Riley's brother" Maya says not knowing how else to describe him.

"Oh cool" James nods

This whole situation felt so awkward for Maya and she had n idea why. But thankfully at that moment Shawn returned and greeted James.

"Well, I'll be home later" Maya tells her stepfather

"Okay, have fun" Shawn tells him

"Nice meeting you sir, you too Josh" he says smiling at both guys

Josh nods "you too" kind of serious, Maya felt like his mind was somewhere else

"bye Josh"

"Bye Maya"

She takes one last glance at hime before she and James head out the door. Josh finds himself staring at the door. Lost in thought

"You ready Josh?" Shawn asks

"uh yeah" Josh says shaking his thoughts away

 _ **Hey guys, I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. I know I promised to try and update sooner but life gets busy and writers block is always a huge road block but I have a lot of great ideas and I'm excited for what's to come!**_

 _ **I hope to get better at updating quicker.**_

 _ **Feel free to comment. I love hearing your thoughts and opinions and am always open to suggestions.**_

 _ **till next time**_

 _ **-Aria**_


	20. Authors Note

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while but I'm almost done with the next chapter of Something More and I hope to have it out either tonight or tomorrow. I had hoped to update sooner but I had family issues and I'm also getting ready to go back to school. But I never forget my stories or my readers, even when I'm not updating I'm always working on storylines that I hope you guys will enjoy.

I love reading all your great comments, some of you have even commented or messaged me ideas and things you would like to see in my stories and I always try to listen to all of them and incorporate them into my stories, so always feel free to comment me your ideas and opinions.

I promise to update as soon as possible!

As always thank you for reading, you guys are the best.

Aria


	21. Chapter 20

When Lucas had texted her the night before to ask her if she wanted to rehearse she didn't really think it was that big of a deal but now that he would be there at any moment, her nerves were kicking in as she was in her room, getting ready.

She tried to remind herself that they were just studying and she shouldn't be so nervous but just the thought of being alone with him sent butterflies coursing through her stomach. As she takes a deep breath to settle her nerves, she suddenly hears the bell ring and a few seconds later she hears her brother.

"RILEY, LUCAS IS HERE" Auggie shouts from the living room

She heads out to the living room to find Lucas sitting on the couch with her younger brother and they seemed to be in the middle of a conversation. It looked like Auggie was showing Lucas his newest comic book

"My favorite is Superman" She hears Auggie tell Lucas as she stands there watching them interact

"Mine too, I actually have some of my old comics that my dad used to bring mr back from his business trips, I have some from different countries I could bring them for you next time " Lucas offers

"Awesome, thanks Lucas! " Auggie exclaims excited

Riley smiled at the scene in front of her. Lucas looked up and saw her standing there

"Hey" he says smiling at the brunette

"Hi" she replies

Lucas smiles and then looks down at the young boy next to him "Well it was fun talking to you Auggie, we'll have to do it more often" he says as he ruffles Auggies hair

Auggie smiles and nods before he grabs his comic book from Lucas and heads back to his room

"He seems to actually like you" Riley comments

"Well I am pretty awesome" Lucas teases

"And modest" Riley adds

"That too"

Riley giggles

They stay silent for a moment before Lucas finally decides to break the silence

"You look nice" he says

Riley blushes before giving him a shy thank you and again they are left in silence and this time Riley is the one to break it.

"So should we get started?" she offers

"As you wish Juliet" he smiles making her blush once again as she leads him to her room.

"So this is my first art gallery so your gonna have to excuse my lack of knowledge" James teases

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"Don't worry I'll walk you through it" Maya giggles as they continue though the exhibit. All the pieces were amazing, they had paintings, sculptures, and any other art you can think of but Maya's favorite were the sketches.

"Have you been to many of these?" James asked

"A few with my stepdad, kind of a father daughter thing we like to do" Maya explains to him

"I think its really cool that you are so close to your step dad"

"He's the best , I love him" Maya smiles. They continue through the exhibit they were currently looking to the sculptures.

"So what about your other dad?" he asks curiously

"He's not in my life anymore" Maya simply says

"I'm sorry" James says sympathetically noticing that it was a sensitive issue for her

"it's okay, so what about your dad?" she asks realizing she never met or heard anything about his father.

"He passed away" James explains

"oh my gosh I'm so sorry" Maya quickly apologizes feeling guilty for bringing the subject up

"Don't worry about , it's been a couple years now, I still miss him though. James smiles reassuringly

Maya nods and they continue in silence for a couple minutes

"So what's the story with that Josh guy?" James suddenly asks

"What do you mean?" Maya asks confused

"Is he like your ex?"

Maya looks at him wide eyed "What? no why would you ask that?" she asks

"Come on even I could sense the awkwardness there"

"Nothings going on between us, we've known each other since we were kids" Maya explains

"And he has no idea you have feelings for him" James says putting the puzzle together in his mind

"What ? I don't have..." she begins to protest but she can tell James is not buying it so she sighs in defeat

"Am I that obvious?" Maya asks.

"No I'm just very observant" James chuckles

"Well it doesn't matter because he's not interested in me"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that" James comments

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Riley and Lucas had been rehearsing now for most of the afternoon. They were currently in Riley's room, they had just finished their 5th run through of the scene.

"Well I think we are improving" Lucas comments as he takes a seat in Riley's bay window

"Yeah, you can almost run through it without looking at your script" Riley teases him as she takes a seat next to him but still keeping a good distance between them

"It's not my fault Shakespeare is hard" Lucas tries to defend himself.

Riley giggles "well if you want we can stop for today" she offers

Lucas puts his script aside, he had been trying to figure out the perfect moment and it seemed this was his opening.

"So you got any plans for the rest of the day?" he tries to ask casually as he can

"Not really, my friends decided to ditch me for the day"

"Mine too" Lucas chuckles " so maybe we hang out?" he offers

That took Riley by surprise " you wanna hang out... with me?" she asks making sure she heard him right.

"Yeah, if you want to of course" Lucas adds quickly making sure she didn't feel pressured to accept

Riley hesitated at first but she decided to put her nerves aside"ok sure" she agrees

"Really" Lucas asks surprised but really happy

"Yeah" Riley nods smiling

"Great" Lucas smiles brightly " I know this great pizza parlor the guys and I always eat there on our way back from games" he offers

"Sounds great, um let me just tell my mom I'm leaving and then we'll go" she tells him

"Okay" he nods smiling at her

Riley smiles at him for a moment before standing up and going to go find her mom to let her know.

Lucas watches her leave the room and tries to remain calm while in the inside he is bursting with excitement.


	22. Chapter 21

As soon as Lucas opened the door for her and she stepped in she could already smell the delicious smell of pizza.

"It smells great"

"Yeah and it tastes even better" Lucas tells her as he leads her to an empty table

As soon as they take their seat a middle age woman comes up to them

"Lucas long time no see" The woman says smiling happily at him

"Hey Mrs. Rains" Lucas greets her

"No boys here today?" she asks looking around for his friends.

"No not this time, I'm here with my friend Riley" he explains motioning towards the quiet brunette sitting across from him

"Hi" Riley greets politely

"Hello sweetie well aren't you the cutest thing, you have nice taste Lucas

Riley blushes deeper and looks down to avoid looking at Lucas who also was turning red.

"She's just a friend, she's actually Josh's sister" he adds

"oh I should have known, I totally see the family resemblance, of course your much prettier" She teases

"Mrs Rains has gotten to know all the guys on the team, especially Josh, Zay and I but I'm definitely her favorite" Lucas smirks

Mrs Rains rolls her eyes "You wish, okay so what can I get you kids"

Mrs Rains takes their order and then leaves the two teens by themselves

"She seems nice"

"Yeah she's great" Lucas agrees

"So you come here a lot?" she asks

"Yeah the team likes to come after a game, But Josh Zay and I come here a lot more often thats why Mrs Rain knows us very well." he explains. "You see that sign hanging over there" he pointed to a sign that read NY PIE that was half coming down and had a crack.

"Yeah what happened to it" Riley asks staring at the sign

"Zay happened" Lucas chuckles. "We were here after practice one night and Zay and Josh were goofing around and trying to jump and touch the ceiling and Zay took a running start and somehow managed to hit the sign nearly knock the whole thing and landing on a table"

Riley laughs just imagining the scene "Wow"

Lucas nods "Yeah Mrs Rain was not happy, but she ended up keeping it like that, says it gave it character"

"It really does" Riley giggles as she looks around the parlor taking everything in. Lucas takes this chance to just admire the girl and how beautiful she was.

"Luke!"

They turn to see a tall dark haired guy walking towards them

"hey, Nathan, hows it going" Lucas says as the boys fist bump

"pretty good just helping out my mom while I wait for Avery" he explains

"oh yeah, hows Avery?" he asks

"she's great thanks, she was just asking about you"

Nathan finally acknowledged the girl sitting with his friend

"Hi im Nathan" he sticks his hand out

"Hello" Riley smiles and shakes his hand

At that moment the door jungles and in enters a cute blonde girl who walks over to the 3 teens.

"Hey babe" Nathan greets the girl with a hug and quick peck on the lips.

"hey" she smiles and turns to look at the other two teens and smiles brightly when she sees the blonde boy.

"Lucas!" she greets and rushes to give him a hug

"Hey Avery" Lucas chuckes as he hugs the girl back

"I haven't seen you in forever, where have you been" she says as she pulls away and play punches him on the shoulder.

Lucas chuckles "yeah sorry I've been busy with school and football" he explains.

Avery looks over and notices Riley "Hi I'm Avery" she greets

"Riley" she smiles

"oh right!" Lucas says realizing he was being rude leaving Riley out of the conversation. "Riley, This is Avery Nate's girlfriend" he explains

"Nice to meet you" Avery says smilig at the brunette .

Avery turns between the two, "wait are you guys on a date, oh my gosh are we interrupting?" she quickly asks

Lucas laughs "Avery this is my friend Riley" he introduces her

"aww boo I thought you had finally settled down" she pouted

Nate laughs "I think we've embarressed Luke long enough babe, we've better get going " he says as he grabs Avery's hand "we'll see you later Luke, nice meeting you Riley"

"You too" Riley says politetly

"Bye you guys" Avery waves as her and Nate head out the front door.

Lucas chuckes "Sorry about my friends they can be kind of blunt sometimes"

"I thought they were very nice" Riley tells him

"Yeah they're great, I've known Nate since the guys and I started coming here, Nathan is actually Mrs Rain's son" he explains

"Must be nice having a hangout for you and your friends"

"Do you and your friends have a place you go to?" Lucas asks

"Not really, I guess Topanga's is our our hangout, we spend a lot of time there" Riley shrugs

At that moment their pizza arrives

"So how how do you think our scene is coming along?, I think our scene is gonna be the best" Lucas says as he grabs his slice and takes a bite.

"Yeah I guess" Riley says trying to sound enthusiastic but Lucas could tell there were something else.

"You nervous?" Lucas asks

"A little" she admits "I'm not that good at speaking in front of people" she says as she looks down and picks at her slice of pizza.

"You'll do great Riles and you won't be alone I will be right there " Lucas smiles encouraging

"Thanks" Riley smiles at him

"You know what, I'm kinda nervous too." he admits

"You're nervous, I doubt it "

"You know, people think just cause I'm a jock that I'm this confident guy but i get nervous before a game"

"Really?" Riley asks it hard to believe that someone like Lucas would be nervous

"Yeah, I'm a wreck, I get butterflies in my stomach I can't eat or sleep"

"Wow so how do you get rid of the nerves" she asks

"I just remind myself that I'm not alone, I know my teams got my back."

"Wish I had a team?' she jokes

"You may not have a team but you have me. I'll be up there with you so when you get up there ignore everyone else and just keep ypur eyes on me and we'll get through it together" Lucas smiles.

Riley found it hard to believe that a guy this amazing existed. Lucas had such a big heart, everytime he smiled at her she felt like pinching herself to make sure she was not dreaming.

"Thanks again James I had a great time"

They had reached Maya's front door after an amazing time at the mueseum and after dinner which James had insisted on paying and would let Maya pay anything.

"I did too, I hope we can do it again soon" James says smiling

"Yeah totally, well I'll see you at school" she says as she turns to open her door

"Wait Maya" he says as he gently grabs her elbow and stops her from going inside

"Yeah" Maya asks confused.

James is hesitant for a moment as if he is debating on weither he should say it or not

"I lied"

"What?" Maya asks confused "What did you lie about?" Maya asks

James sighs "When you asked me if this was a date I told you I wanted to go as friends that wasn;t the whole truth"

Maya stood there not knowung what to say

"Maya I like you, I've noticed you since the beginning of the year but you never seemed tp notice me but when we got paired up I figured it was my chance to get ypu to notice me and when I asked you to the museum I thought it was a way for us to get to know each other."

"James..I"

"You don't have to say anything I just thought I should be honest...I haven't scared you off have I?"

Maya smikes "Of course not this is just a lot to take in and I need time"

James nods "I understand and take your time but I just hope I haven't ruined our friendship because I really do like hanging out with you"

"I like hanging out with you too" Maya answered honestly.

James smiles "It's getting late I should probaly get going"

Maya nods "ok, i'll see you at school"

James nods "Night Maya"

"Night James"

Maya watches James walk away before finally entering her apartment and heading straight to her room to call Riley.


End file.
